Category: Worldwide

Anticipation for this year’s halftime show has reached a fever pitch as rumors about a new single from Kendrick Lamar have followed Dr. Dre’s star-studded lineup for the show. Well, the Kendrick single never materialized, but his performance was so electrified that fans were just as satiated. Between Kung Fu Kenny, Dre himself, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, and a surprise appearance from 50 Cent, how could anyone not feel like this was one of the most epic halftime shows in history?

Though the league has a long history of avoiding booking rappers for the show, this year’s star-studded lineup was clearly designed to buck their past booking decisions and give hip-hop the spotlight. Particularly in a sport that includes so many Black athletes, staffers, and incorporates hip-hop culture in a lot of ways, it seems like a no-brainer that the league would want to embrace the relationship. In another move that feels like a no-brainer, Eminem elected to kneel after his performance of “Lose Yourself,” a clear sign of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick that the NFL had reportedly asked him not to do. Their first mistake? Telling Em what he can and can’t do. Check out the entire performance above, this one is one for the history books.

Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is finally coming after years in the making, even before a certain Tom Hanks moment prompted the realization that Hollywood was going on pause amid the pandemic. However, a premiere date now exists (September 2, 2022). The show (very obviously) hopes to be (as Jeff Bezos really wanted) Amazon’s own Game of Thrones, and at least, well, there won’t be a question of the author not finishing the source material (poor George R.R. Martin never stopped catching hell for that detail) before the show barrels past what’s already been written.

Nope, no danger of that happening here. J.R.R. Tolkien passed away in 1972, and Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power will bring his fabled Second Age to the screen (with eye-popping waterfalls and devastating-looking storms and a determined-looking young Galadriel) for the first time. From Amazon:

“This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, ope hung by the finest of threads, and one of the greatest villains that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.”

Expect to see the enormous ensemble cast do their thing within numerous Arda-spanning venues, from the Misty Mountains to Lindon’s majestic forests to an island setting, and more. The show will launch with the characters in relative peace, but Middle Earth will be horrified to see evil reemerge, and everything should be beautiful to watch, of course, given that there’s a reported $465 million budget for the first season. Also, this show aims to be much more family friendly than Game of Thrones, so don’t anticipate all that sex and violence, even if the themes might grow scary while the forces of good aim to vanquish the darkness.

Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power will premiere on September 2.

The Cincinnati Bengals found themselves in a hole at halftime of Super Bowl LVI. The Los Angeles Rams held a 13-10 lead, but the good news for Cincinnati was that they had the ball first. Thanks to their big play offense and a referee that didn’t catch a pretty obvious penalty, it took one play for them to go on top.

Joe Burrow dropped back to start the second half and faked a handoff to Joe Mixon. He stepped up in the pocket in the face of some pressure and immediately looked deep down the field, where he found Tee Higgins 1-on-1 with Jalen Ramsey. While it was a risk — Ramsey is quite good! — Burrow let one rip to his big receiver.

At first glance, it looked like Ramsey fell down, which led to Higgins winning a jump ball and coasting into the end zone for a 75-yard reception.

Some subsequent angles showed that Higgins was really, really lucky that this play stood. The former Clemson standout grabbed Ramsey’s face mask and yanked it towards him, causing the All-Pro cornerback to go tumbling to the ground.

Ramsey was understandably not happy about this one, but thanks to the lack of a flag, Higgins got his second score of the game.

This year’s Super Bowl halftime show was more anticipated than many in recent history, as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and Eminem headlined (with a surprise appearance from 50 Cent) the first all hip-hop show the Super Bowl has ever done.

Those legends of hip-hop have been the soundtrack for many, and those of us of a certain age were very much looking forward to taking in the performance. Fans weren’t the only ones excited about it, though, as some players surely also wanted to see it, but only one chose to forego the halftime locker room trip to stay on the field to enjoy the festivities: Bengals kicker Evan McPherson.

It is an incredible power move by McPherson to just stay on the sidelines and vibe out to Dre, Snoop, and the rest instead of going to listen to whatever Zac Taylor’s halftime speech was with the Bengals down 13-10 at the break. In fairness to McPherson, what does he have to do with halftime adjustments, he made his two kicks of the first half and isn’t exactly involved with the gameplan other than staying ready. If it gets him in the right headspace to drill kicks to be out there and enjoying himself, then good for him. The Bengals got a touchdown on the first play of the second half and he made his extra point, so maybe he was onto something with his choice to take in the halftime show from one of the best seats in the house.

After reports leaked that Eminem had been forbidden to kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s protest campaign, during today’s halftime show he decided to go his own way. Eminem’s contribution to the star-studded show was focused mainly on his massive hit, “Lose Yourself,” which featured a cameo from none other than Anderson Paak on the drums, but at the end of that song, he chose to kneel down onstage and highlight Kaepernick’s protests.

Some might think it’s too little too late for white artists and athletes to begin supporting Colin’s movement, which ended up with him struggling to find a place when it came to the draft, others will definitely find it commendable that Eminem used his own position to shine a light. Currently, Ava Duvernay and Netflix are working on a six-episode series about Colin called Colin In Black And White.

It might’ve been a little bit more impactful if the activist himself had been invited onstage, either by Dr. Dre and his cohort, or by the NFL themselves, who seemed intent on silencing or ignoring the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback during the height of his protests, which were primarily enacted as the peaceful act of kneeling during the National Anthem before games. Check out some reactions to Eminem’s choice to kneel below.

Super Bowl LVI is in full swing with potential Eminem controversy and movie trailers and The Sopranos nostalgia and Coinbase-prompted anger all running amuck at the same time. So on that last note, how about a crypto commercial starring none other than Curb Your Enthusiasm curmudgeon Larry David?

It’s definitely an unexpected move from one of the most infamous pop-culture grumpy-faces of all time. And Larry does stick with his reputation in an ad for crypto platform FTX. “Nah, I don’t think so,” he dismissively declared after bopping throughout history to shun groundbreaking inventions including the lightbulb and the wheel. “And I’m never wrong about this stuff. Ever.” Let’s just say that the ad (which surprised a lot of people when it turned out to be for crypto) left people surprisingly torn.

The Hollywood Reporter has the lowdown on how this ad came together. Larry apparently loved every moment of this shoot, too:

Drafting David as an “anti-sponsor” of sorts comes as cryptocurrency makes a giant leap for the mainstream. Today’s Super Bowl featured several crypto-related spots, including one for Coinbase, and the weekend saw a slew of high-profile events sponsored by crypto platforms or accompanied by digital offerings like free NFTs. “We need to meet people where they are, and that means embracing skepticism,” said FTX co-founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. “A lot of people who are now the biggest advocates of crypto once had significant reservations.”

Enjoy the rest of the game, and surely, more offbeat commercials are bound to arrive before all is said and done.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Though there’s plenty of other headlines about Kanye West flying this morning, a sweet look at the “old Kanye” comes through in the form of a brief appearance in a McDonald’s commercial this Super Bowl. As so many brands gear up to try for a big hit during the annual commercial blitz, McDonald’s has landed on a way to gently roast their customers that will probably ring true for most people who have pulled up to a drive-thru, or stepped into a fast food joint, only to find themselves confronted with a massive menu full of options that suddenly knocks any idea of what to order out of their heads.

For the clip, McDonalds portrays patrons of all kinds encountering their menu and suddenly falling back on the familiar placeholder phrase: “Can I get uhhhhhhh” — something that will probably also resonate with plenty of counter workers. As if that funny set up wasn’t enough, the fast food giant also enlisted Kanye West for a rare commercial appearance in the clip. In true, over-the-top Ye form, he pulls up to the drive-thru in a best of a black vehicle, similar to a tank, only to find himself struck with a case of “Can I get uhhhh” along with everyone else. Check out the commercial, completely devoid of any beef or custody drama, up above.

Perhaps you were watching the Super Bowl tonight and saw that wonderful Michelob Ultra commercial featuring Peyton Manning, Jimmy Butler, and Serena Williams and thought, “well hot damn it’s going to be tough for anyone to top THAT.” And then the theme song to The Sopranos started playing and the familiar Jersey scenery started flashing across your screen and then Meadow Soprano (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) was revealed to be the person behind the wheel of an all-electric Chevy Silverado and suddenly the aforementioned wonderful Michelob Ultra commercial was topped and you, like us, may have had a few goosebumps start to break out. Finally, in the climactic moment of the spot, AJ Soprano (Robert Iler) appeared and joined Meadow in a long hug. Yeah, it might have been a little dusty in here when that happened.

And if you were wondering how Chevy pulled this off and if Sopranos creator David Chase was involved, the Hollywood Reporter has the scoop.

Created for the first-ever Chevy Silverado EV, the actress and her Sopranos bother, actor Robert Iler, appear in the “New Generation” spot that recreates shot-for-shot the opening of the series. Naturally, “Woke Up This Morning” by Alabama 3 is the needle-drop.

Sopranos creator David Chase and HBO series cinematographer Phil Abraham worked on the Chevrolet spot created by advertising agency Commonwealth // McCann.

Further, Sigler told the Hollywood Reporter working on the commercial gave her “chills.”

When I got the call about this commercial, the whole concept made such perfect sense: it’s Chevrolet coming out with this all-new Silverado EV. It’s about a new generation, which Meadow and A.J. represent. I thought it was a brilliant idea. And then when they told me David Chase was onboard and Phil Abraham was going to be [the cinematographer], it was so special. It was a dream to do. I had chills the entire time.

Naturally, Sopranos fans had plenty of thoughts about the spot, but the prevailing sentiment seemed to be centered around Meadow’s notoriously bad parallel parking skills.

The Los Angeles Rams got off to a hot start to Super Bowl LVI, with Odell Beckham Jr. catching the first touchdown pass of the game to put the Rams up 7-0.

It was quite the moment for Beckham, who has had a wild 2021-22 season, taking a winding journey that brought him back from a torn ACL to the Browns lineup, to being released, and ultimately becoming a key part of the Rams offense during their run through the NFC Playoffs. Beckham had a couple big plays in the first half, but in the second quarter the superstar receiver collapsed to the ground on a crossing route after trying to adjust to a Stafford pass close to the line of scrimmage that caused his left knee (the same one he tore his ACL in back in 2020) to buckle as he planted.

Beckham ripped his helmet off in pain and was attended to for a few minutes on the field before being helped up and limping off the field with some assistance from the trainers. He was in the medical tent briefly and then walked back to the locker room for further evaluations, and we await word on the severity of the injury but it certainly didn’t look good for him to return to the game.

The first update from Michelle Tafoya of NBC was he is “questionable” with a left knee injury.

The Cincinnati Bengals threw for their first touchdown in Super Bowl LVI, but it came with a catch: Joe Burrow was not the one who threw the football. Cincinnati found itself down, 13-3, during the game’s second quarter, but managed to march down the field and get themselves into the red zone.

After Joe Mixon ran the ball on first-and-goal, it looked like Cincy was going right back to that well. Burrow pitched the ball to Mixon, but instead of trying to turn upfield, the Bengals’ standout running back kept moving horizontally. While people in living rooms and bars around the world assuredly started screaming “FAKE!,” the Los Angeles Rams‘ defense fell for it. As a result, Tee Higgins got behind everyone and was wide open in the back of the end zone. Rams safety Nick Scott couldn’t get there in time to break up the pass attempt, while Higgins had reservations for six.

As you can guess, it’s pretty rare that non-quarterbacks throw for a score in the Super Bowl. This marks the fifth time in NFL history that this has happened, and the first time since then-Philadelphia Eagles tight end Trey Burton threw to Nick Foles in Super Bowl LII.

This also marked the first pass attempt of Mixon’s NFL career, and we feel confident saying this was a pretty good time for it.