Category: Worldwide

It’s been just over a week since Chadwick Boseman, acclaimed actor and Marvel superstar, died of colon cancer. The news came as a shock, not only because he was so young, only aged 43, but also because he had kept his illness a secret, reportedly believing he could conquer it before the sequel to Black Panther. Since then tributes have poured in and his movies and new specials about his life have been squeezed into TV line-ups.

Now SNL has followed the lead. As per Deadline, the beloved live sketch show is reserving its slot on Saturday, September 5, for the episode Boseman hosted back on April 7, 2018. The actor appeared less than two months after Black Panther hit theaters and mere weeks before the release of his next MCU appearance, in Avengers: Infinity War.

Boseman never got to make a comedy film, and even all his television appearances were on dramas — except for his SNL gig. And he proved he was an untapped comedic talent, particularly when he brought Black Panther’s T’Challa to bear on another round of Black Jeopardy! The YouTube clip of it remains incredibly popular, with 24 million views over the last 2 ½ years. While you can watch that in the video above, remember that there’s another hour and change of quality Boseman SNL fodder, which will air Saturday at 11:35pm EST.

(Via Deadline)

Justice League, the DCEU’s flailing attempt at their own Avengers-style all-star mash-up, may have gotten a Mulligan, with the much-hoped-for “Snyder Cut” en route early next year. But there are still skeletons tumbling from the troubled production’s closet. In July, one of its stars, Ray Fisher, aka Cyborg, alleged on-set abuse at the hands of the film’s second director, Joss Whedon, who stepped into replace the departing Zack Snyder. Last month, Warner Bros., which owns the DCEU, opened an investigation into Fisher’s claims, but last week both the studio and the actor took their feud next level.

On Friday, as per Deadline, a Warner Bros. spokesperson issued a statement, alleging that Fisher, who had insisted WarnerMedia hire an independent investigator, was not playing ball. “This investigator has attempted multiple times to meet with Mr. Fisher to discuss his concerns but, to date, Mr. Fisher has declined to speak to the investigator,” the statement read. “Warner Bros. remains committed to accountability and to the well-being of every cast and crew member on each of its productions. It also remains committed to investigating any specific and credible allegation of misconduct, which thus far Mr. Fisher has failed to provide.”

The next day, Fisher struck back. Taking to Twitter — where he originally alleged that Whedon’s treatment of himself and others was “gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable” — the actor denied that he’d been avoiding the independent investigator, saying he had spoken with them and offering an e-mail, dated August 26, as proof. He also called out Warner Bros. for their “desperate and scattershot attempt to discredit me.”

“It’s also worth noting that I made it clear to the world on Aug 21st that I would be vetting the investigator to ensure a fair and protected process for all witnesses,” he added. “@wbpictures has escalated this to an entirely different level, but I’m ready to meet the challenge.

In Justice League, Fisher played one of the main team — a former college athlete named Victor Stone who, after a fatal car accident, is reborn as a robotic crime fighter. As evidenced by early trailers, Fisher originally had a much larger role, complete with his own origin story. Very little of that wound up in the version that hit theaters in late 2017, but the “Snyder Cut” trailer shows that that will be restored.

(Via Deadline)

Disney’s release of its live-action Mulan is a grand experiment in how much people are willing to pay for content during a pandemic. Disney originally scheduled their remake for a late March theatrical release only to wind up dropping it on their streaming service, for an unprecedentedly large fee of $29 — and that’s if you’re already a Disney+ subscriber. While the remake of the beloved late’90s animated movie will eventually be on the regular tier of Disney+, Christina Aguilera had very good reason to shell out the extra money to show her children the live-action version of the film that helped her become a superstar.

Aguilera had a breakout hit with “Reflection,” which she recorded for the Mulan soundtrack. The singer was invited back to re-record the song for the 2020 version of the movie. As it turns out, Aguilera had never shown her two children the movie. So on the film’s Friday’s release, Aguilera used the film’s digital premiere as an excuse to finally make them watch the animated original.

She shared her excitement about showing her children the movie for the first time on Twitter, calling it a “beautiful thing to share” with her family.

The singer also talked about re-recording “Reflection,” as well as a new song for the 2020 version of Mulan, calling it an “emotional” experience and pointing out the differences between the two songs.

Aguilera also shared an extremely throwback GIF of herself as on Disney, which was a nice coda to what became a very enlightening Twitter Q&A.

Following Megan The Stallion’s shooting incident, which she blamed on Tory Lanez, some artists announced they would be removing the Canadian rapper from their songs. The first was Kehlani. The second was JoJo, who was asked last month, after she announced the release date for the deluxe version of her album Good To Know, if she would remove Tory Lanez from their collaboration “Comeback.” She replied, “Def took him TF off.” Now JoJo has elaborated on the move while stopping by Quibi’s Close Up By E! News.

“As soon as the allegations came out, I started talking to my team,” she said. “I can’t support this person, I have to distance myself.” JoJo explained that it was important to “believe women” in situations like the one between Megan and Tory. “Why would it behoove her to lie about this?”

Before the segment concluded, JoJo made sure to clarify her point, saying, “What I’m saying is that I believe Megan Thee Stallion. That was my stance and it just felt like the right thing to do to take him off the deluxe version of the album.”

(via E! News)

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

For nearly 35 years, The Princess Bride has been an abiding favorite — a movie so beloved that its legions of fans pounce whenever someone even considers remaking it. Presumably they’ll be cool with this: According to Deadline, a number of the film’s cast members will reunite for one of the quarantine era’s more popular to-dos, the virtual script read, thereby offering a kind-of-not-quite remake.

Those returning include stars Cary Elwes and Robin Wright, baddie Chris Sarandon (but not, apparently, and alas, Christopher Guest), and supporting players Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Carol Kane, and Billy Crystal. The get-together will also include a Q&A to be moderated by the film’s director, Rob Reiner, as well as Patton Oswalt, who presumably, like a lot of people, is just a big fan. (Pour a couple out for dearly departed Princess Bride cast members André the Giant and Peter Falk.)

Granted, it’s not free: To gain entry, you have to donate to the soiree’s chosen charity, i.e., the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, a traditionally blue state that Donald Trump flipped in 2016 and home to Kenosha, one of the epicenters of the Black Lives Matter protests. Reiner has long been an outspoken progressive, but it was Elwes who penned the night’s lacerating attack on America’s sitting president, which reads as follows:

“I think most people are aware by now that Donald Trump has completely abdicated his duties as President to represent and stand up for all Americans. He has failed to keep the country safe from COVID-19 and as a result he is responsible for the devastating chaos, violence and economic collapse that we are now experiencing.”

“If America is going to have a real chance at healing we must get rid of Trump. And that is only possible if we win Wisconsin. I am thrilled to be part of this very rare reunion of my colleagues from The Princess Bride as a way to increase awareness and garner resources for the state that will determine the fate of America.”

The Princess Bride script read will take place on Sunday, September 13 at 7pm EST.

(Via Deadline)

The 2019-20 NBA season has been a banner campaign for Jayson Tatum. He was a first-time All-Star, finished fourth in Most Improved Player voting, and looks en route to his first All-NBA honor. The 22-year-old emerged as a lethal pull-up shooter, converting 40.4 percent of his off-the-bounce triples, and was a devastating wing scorer over the second half of the season, averaging 26.7 points on a 48/45.6/78 slash line (61.1 percent true shooting) during his final 27 games.

Already a top-20ish player in his third year, this outburst emphasized his future superstardom as a top-10 player at his peak. He’d a be a two-way artist, excelling as an off-ball roamer defensively and shouldering substantial on-ball creation offensively, although he’s not quite at the level of a high-end primary initiator. Essentially, good enough as a co-star on a championship-caliber team, but unlikely to be the guy.

Shortly before the season was postponed in March, though, Tatum began flashing signs of improvements as a passer, which continued into Orlando this summer. After coasting past an outmatched and undermanned Philadelphia 76ers squad that failed to pose resistance against his scoring artillery, he’s faced a stingier task in the Toronto Raptors, the league’s second-ranked defensive unit during the regular season. This is where he’s tapped into his facilitating growth, picking apart a well-connected defense and beginning to understand how easy passing reads can be when you’re a 6’9 pull-up maestro with a distinguished feel for the sport.

The sort of in-season leap that potentially changes the calculus of his ceiling is unfolding. If Tatum is one of the NBA’s principal pull-up shooters, an All-Defensive Team mainstay, and a complementary playmaker rather than someone with predominantly milquetoast vision, he could legitimately assert himself as one of the 3-5 best players in the league down the line. Maybe he’s amid a brief statistical hot streak as a passer, but the tape suggests otherwise and lends credence to his scoring jump being accompanied by a distributing one.

Per 36 minutes in the regular season, Tatum averaged 5.8 potential assists, which tracks “any pass to a teammate who shoots within one dribble of receiving the ball.” Against Toronto, that mark has shifted to 9.9. On various occasions through the first three games of the series, Tatum executed passes that caught me off-guard and coaxed out a holler of excitement. Witnessing players undergo developments in real time is a fascinating life experience. Tatum is realizing the attention he commands as an on-ball creator and leveraging that into a simplified game for his teammates.

It isn’t as though he merely reviewed hours of film, hunkered down in the gym, mastered one type of pass, and wired into his robotic decision-making the sort of skill development coined as “learned” or “trained” reads. Tatum is surveying the court and whizzing passes how he deems fit. Sometimes, he’s proactive in his play-making. Other times, he’s reactive.

Investing too heavily in a three-game sample would be short-sighted, but that’s not what this is. Gradual strides have coalesced at a crucial point in Boston’s season. While the foundation was laid months ago, it seemed ambitious to expect such rapid implementation. That’s especially true against this opponent and coaching staff, in which flashes are no longer solely that. They’ve seemingly been downloaded into his offensive toolkit as something defenses must game plan against moving forward.

There have been three primary means of distributing from Tatum during this stretch: interior reads, kick-outs, and skip passes. The kick-outs are fairly mundane, more valuable than eye-popping. He’s attracting the pupils of multiple defenders in pick-and-rolls, face-ups, or as a zone-buster and making timely, easily discernible decisions to generate efficient shots. Consistently manipulating scoring gravity is an important trait for any initiator, even if it’s far from the headlining aspect of his discovery. A handful of the interior reads and skip passes, meanwhile, resemble a metamorphosis, rather than a logical, connective upgrade from one step to the next. He is learning on the fly, adapting to his recently acquired stature of fear-invoking scorer.

Whether it’s being more daring as a handler or drawing attention from a sea of bodies, he’s conveying a concerted effort to remain an offensive threat in a congested lane. Long an underwhelming finisher inside, Tatum has a tendency to try and unsuccessfully plow through bigger defenders, avoid contact with awkwardly angled layups/leaners, or burp up foolish floaters. By functioning with greater discretion and patience, cognizant of the possibilities that do not include chasing his own shot, he’s showcasing an increased playmaking capacity.

Within this interior reads classification, there are two sub-divisions: A standard over-the-top lob and a more complex decision requiring a heightened degree of risk. The lobs are here. They’re not worth analyzing in-depth, but still deserve to be highlighted…

…And the riskier ones — which are most pertinent through a long-term looking glass — are here, supplemented by analysis.

Despite having his handle disrupted, Tatum shakes Pascal Siakam off the dribble in semi-transition, prompting rotations from Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry. This leaves him with openings for a lay-down pass to Robert Williams inside or a kick-out to Marcus Smart. OG Anunoby is late sliding in to deter the lay-down pass, so Tatum wraps the feed around Gasol’s left side, making it more challenging for Anunoby to get his paw on the ball and break up the play.

The patience and snappy decision-making are what stand out. Tatum has often struggled in that intermediate part of the floor, but remains controlled and isn’t flustered when Gasol steps into his airspace. He punctually adjusts and plops the pass into Williams’ mitts rather than being hardwired into a contested shot for himself.

Smart zips past Fred VanVleet, sparking a scramble of rotations from the Raptors. Tatum beats the Lowry closeout and, again, is confronted with two passing outlets: up top for a Smart three or inside to Daniel Theis. VanVleet aims to account for both decisions because Tatum freezes him by staring down Smart before threading it to Theis, though VanVleet recovers and swipes the ball out of bounds.

The optical manipulation is crucial. If Tatum stares down Theis, VanVleet will recognize that and cut off the pass. This would leave Smart as the option. There’s nothing particularly incorrect about producing an open three for him, it’s just that attempts at the rim are more efficient and valuable. Tatum’s craft doesn’t result in a basket, but the process is quite sound, which is key from a long-term standpoint.

Among the three passes, this is the gold standard of the bunch. Part of Tatum’s scoring evolution in 2020 stems from newfound mastery and cadence in pick-and-rolls, which is exactly what occurs on the assist above. He rejects the screen, retreats once help arrives, uses the screen, occupies Gasol, and curls the live dribble, off-hand pass to Theis on the roll before a stunting Lowry can force Tatum to pick up the ball. VanVleet likely expected to have more time on his rotation or that it wasn’t needed, so Theis thunders home the dunk.

At least in a measured sense, it is difficult to overstate the optimism of this clip. Tatum won’t immediately begin whirling live dribble, off-hand passes in traffic with regularity, but the timing and execution portend well for his future as a facilitator. This isn’t a learned or trained read. It’s an astute, impromptu processing of the possession, indicating that more repetitions, ones he will undoubtedly receive, could empower him to cook up other passes delivered by talent and feel.

Much of the interior passing was yielded from advantage creation situations when he operated in a secondary role on the given play. The set of skip passes below are Tatum optimized, spearheading pick-and-rolls or self-creation chances, conscientious of his on-ball magnetism and spraying dimes across the hardwood to open shooters.

Tatum’s 6’9 build places defenders in a bind because it is more challenging for them to prevent larger guys from reaching preferred spots on the floor that warrants help or brings about wandering eyes, leaving someone else open. Aside from demanding traps, hedges, or aggressive stunts because of pull-up shooting gravity, this is primarily how Tatum wins on the ball. He is overwhelmingly long and tall, despite lacking requisite functional strength and sporting a handle encumbered by pesky limbs. Both the frame and off-the-dribble scoring threat help manufacture passing windows for him. As of late, he’s climbing through those windows with two-handed kick-outs and live dribble skips, ensuring there is a routine butterfly effect of his scoring prowess.

Within the broad collection of perimeter-oriented passes exist a handful of individual plays worth examining, illuminating the manner through which he is thriving.

Boston employs a high, side pick-and-roll for Tatum and Theis. VanVleet aggressively rotates to combat a pocket pass and tag Theis, who opts(?) to pop for three. Tatum, whose height enables him to seamlessly scan the entire floor, fixates on Grant Williams in the corner, spinning VanVleet into a tizzy, and rifles a live dribble skip to Smart for a walk-in triple. Perhaps Tatum is a beat late with the pass, but he also uses that time to sell the corner read.

This is manipulation and guile usually reserved for premier initiators, a stratum he appears headed toward. The fact he so effortlessly transitions from dribble to pass matters a whole lot, too. Seeing reads and making them is one puzzle piece. Carrying them out in the fashion and time Tatum does punctuates the play.

One of the clips most emblematic of Tatum’s refined approach as a creator is this. Lowry wiggles over the screen, Gasol shows above the arc to eradicate any inclination of a pull-up three, and the two funnel him into a precarious spot near the basket. Williams isn’t open for a drop-off pass and any Tatum shot attempt would be a low-efficiency proposition. The only lane to an open look is a skip pass. He has the vision and physical tools to inhabit that lane, and lofts the ball over four Toronto defenders to Jaylen Brown in the corner. If Brown shoots upon the catch, it’s an open triple, with Siakam scurrying back to close out.

The patience to remain composed, even with Lowry breathing down his neck and Gasol well-positioned, resonates. Busting out the counter of a spin move to forge a slight advantage against Lowry, which brings Gasol to him, guarantees a full help rotation from Anunoby. It leads to an open Brown in the corner and is the sort of subtle, paramount decision that primary initiators frequent.

Again, Tatum demonstrates court awareness and how his size alleviates some pressure as a passer. He finds a sliver of space against Anunoby, spurring Serge Ibaka to step up and protect the rim, while Lowry concerns himself with a potential drop-off pass to Williams. A double seems imminent and the lone teammate open is Brad Wanamaker, so Tatum sends the cross-court laser. Lowry takes a poor angle on the recovery and Wanamaker kisses a runner off glass.

One of his long-standing deficiencies as a creator is the lack of a paint game. He doesn’t have a floater to sprinkle in and prefers finesse finishers rather than embracing contact or drawing a foul. By audibling with a pair of skip passes on the previous two clips, Tatum circumvents these barricades, showcases maturation as a passer and maintains equity in his burdensome offensive duties.

While Tatum still must incorporate a floater into his arsenal and master the dark art of garnering gimmicky fouls (he’s trying very hard to do so recently) to accentuate his scoring development, this postseason passing display holds significance. He’s amplifying the value of his scoring, solidifying his standing as a bona fide initiator, and helping the Celtics march toward an Eastern Conference Finals appearance. Each storyline contributes to a run that reshapes who he can become, perhaps attesting he is great enough to be the guy on a championship winner, a conclusion most did not envision prior to this banner 2019-20 campaign.

Refusing to let his fans go too long without new content, Lil Wayne offers up a new music video for “Big Worm,” off the deluxe version of Funeral. It finds Wayne taking his fans on a trip through his career, using facial recognition technology to transform himself into the many looks he’s had throughout his career. Along the way it takes us back to his Hot Boys days and to the the height of the Tha Carter era.

The new video is one of many the New Orleans rapper has released since dropping Funeral. Other videos include one for “No Ceilings,” with ASAP Ferg and Jay Gwaupo, and for “Thug Life,” with Gudda Gudda and Jay Jones. Wayne also joined Tory Lanez and DaBaby for a remix of Jack Harlow’s “What’s Poppin” this year.

As for any feature releases, Wayne revealed on an appearance on ESPN last month that both Tha Carter VI and No Ceilings 3 are on the way, with the latter set to arrive first. “Carter VI coming soon,” Wayne said. “But, I got No Ceilings coming first. No Ceilings 3.” 2 Chainz also confirmed earlier this year that his joint album with Wayne, Collegrove 2, would also arrive in 2020.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After going almost three years without an album, Jhene Aiko returned with Chilombo, her third, back in March. Fans loved the album’s 20 songs and appearances from the likes of Nas, Big Sean, HER, and more. After a deluxe version that added nine additional songs, the singer-songwriter is back in the news, this time with a calming video for the song “Speak.”

The video finds Jhene showing a day in her life. After starting her morning with lighting incense and saging her house, Jhene decides to enjoy her afternoon by cleaning and reorganizing things before concluding the day with a nice meal and a candle-lit bath.

The new video arrives after Jhene made two guest appearances on Big Sean’s new album, Detroit 2. The “Triggered” singer joined the rapper on “Body Language” and “In Time,” the latter listed as a Twenty88 collaboration — the duo Jhene and Big Sean formed back in 2016. Other appearances from Jhene in 2020 include one on Kehlani’s “Change Your Life” and another on John Legend’s “U Move, I Move.”

The “Speak” video also arrives almost two months after her warm “Summer 2020” video, which found her making the best of the turbulent times this year has presented.

You can watch the “Speak” video above.

It’s hard to believe this, but it’s been six years since we got a David Fincher movie. The legendary director was last seen with his adaptation of Gone Girl, a major hit that should have paved the way for plenty more. Instead he’s struggled to get project off the ground, working mostly in television. That cold streak ends next month, when Netflix — the home for daring filmmakers inexplicably ignored by major studios, from Martin Scorsese to Charlie Kaufman to the late Orson Welles — releases Fincher’s new film Mank, whose first images have finally dropped.

Speaking of Welles, Mank concerns the life and career of Herman J. Mankiewicz, the seasoned Hollywood screenwriter whose most famous credit was co-writing Citizen Kane. Gary Oldman plays the colorful scribe, with The Souvenir’s Tom Burke as Welles, the 24-year-old wunderkind given carte blanche to make whatever he wanted. He was teamed with Mankiewicz, a seasoned Tinseltown veteran who’d worked on everything from Marx Brothers movies to The Wizard of Oz.

Mank will largely focus on the making of Kane, which had an adversary in the figure it was loosely portraying: newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, played by Charles Dance. (Amanda Seyfried appears as his much younger mistress, the actress Marion Davies.) Fincher shot the film, which was written by his late father Jack, in black-and-white, and the luminous cinematography is one of the stand-outs of the handful of images made available ahead of its release next month.

Here’s Oldman as Mankiewicz.

And Charles Dance as Hearst.

And Oldman alongside Arliss Howard as MGM co-founder Louis B. Mayer and Tom Pelphrey as Joe Mankiewicz.

And ily Collins as Rita Alexander, Mankiewicz’s secretary, opposite Oldman.

Finally, here’s the screenplay for the film that would for decades be called cinema’s crowning achievement, under its original title.

As of now, Mank does not have an official release date, but you can expect it at some point in October.

The wait for new music from SZA finally came to an end on Friday when the TDE singer returned with “Hit Different,” her first single in over three years. The track boasts an appearance from Ty Dolla Sign and was met with appreciation from her fans all over social media. As she continues to celebrate the new song, SZA took to Instagram to reveal that the song was recorded at DJ Khaled’s house. “I never told u but I recorded this song at your house while y’all was gone,” she said in the post. “Thank you so much king!!”

While speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, SZA said that her and The Neptunes, who produced the track, recorded the song at the legendary producer’s house while he attended the Super Bowl back in February. She also said she’s excited to share more material from her upcoming “body of work.”

“This body of work that I’ve been working on… everything sounds different,” she said. “But it all sounds like me. But I realized… as long as the essence of me is in it I’m not really stressed about continuity or making sense to anybody.”

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.