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Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

TIE: 10. Special Ops: Lioness: (Paramount+ series)

The newest Taylor Sheridan series is only getting started, but this joint places Zoe Saldaña back into non-MCU ass-kicking mode, over a decade after Colombiana put her on the action map. Nicole Kidman co-stars as the chief of the Lioness Program, meant to ward off any future 9/11-type plots, and Saldaña portrays an operative who works with recruits to mold them into fearsome assassins. Expect the personal to clash with the professional and dramatic sparks to fly along with the action.

TIE: 10. Foundation (Apple TV+ series)

Lee Pace has a naked fight scene this season because he can’t let Alexander Skarsgård have all the fun. Beyond that treat for Pace fans, this Isaac Asimov adaptation pays equal attention to striking visuals and a slow burn of a script to keep expanding this show into the Milky Way-spanning, world-building heights that it deserves to be. This show should hit a sweet spot for those who are frustrated with Dune 2 delays, and Jared Harris as a prophet is icing on the existential cake.

9. The Deepest Breath (Netflix documentary)

This project inadvertently has both the worst and best timing possible. Feathers did get ruffled when promotion began amid the recent plight of Oceangate submersible passengers, none of whom survived. On a related but still contrasting note, this documentary revolves around the sport of freediving, which does involve a substantial risk, given that divers head as deep as possible without taking an air supply with them. In other words, they had better be able to hold their breath as long as humanly possible because this is one hell of a risky pastime.

8. Twisted Metal (Peacock series)

Anthony Mackie will soon resurface as Captain America in the MCU, but he’s sliding in on the more profane side in this video game adaptation that hopes to match the streaming success of The Last Of Us. Can it succeed? This year has seen some unusually well-received adaptations including The Super Mario Bros. Movie (even with Chris Pratt’s Mario voice), and Anthony Mackie portrays a wise-cracking outsider who would probably be satisfied if he could only find some toilet paper in the post-apocalyptic hellscape. Sweet Tooth, the killer, ice-cream dealing clown jointly played by Samoa Joe and Will Arnett, will terrorize all, and other costars include Neve Campbell, Richard Cabral, Stephanie Beatriz, and Thomas Haden Church.

7. They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix movie)

John Boyega recently told Uproxx how he’d love to have some romance onscreen, but before that happens, he stars in this homage to Blaxploitation cinema. The story revolves around Boyega as an antihero/drug dealer, along with Teyonah Parris as a sex worker and Jamie Foxx as a pimp, who descend into a conspiracy-laden rabbit hole after they discover that a government agency has weaponized Black cultural tidbits against the Black community. Expect reality to bend in upon itself in a funny and sharply absurdist adventure.

6. The Crowded Room (Apple TV+ series)

After a rough launch, this drama earned the loyal viewership of Tom Holland devotees, who received a handsome reward in the form of a devastating overall performance from the sometimes-Spider-Man actor. The story takes plenty of creative liberties but found inspiration in the real-life story of murder defendant Billy Milligan, who invoked a legal defense that had never been successfully used on a previous occasion. Holland’s character, Danny Sullivan, slowly unravels through his alternate personalities that emerge while an investigator (portrayed by Amanda Seyfried) explores what really happened inside of his terribly troubled mind.

5. The Bear (FX series streaming on Hulu)

This kitchen isn’t cooling down yet, so gather round for another pressure-cooker of a season with Carmy Berzatto, his legion of Chefs, and so many stellar guest stars as wayward (to put it mildly) family members. Surely, FX will begin discussing a third season soon, and we’ll find out if Carmy got out of that bind that he found himself in the season finale. Dude needs to realize that he is bad at romance and not gather any more collateral damage in that way, but nearly everyone else made genuine strides this season and are living their best lives. That especially goes for Richie, but I’m plenty pleased for Marcus, Tina, and Sydney, too.

4. Justified: City Primeval (FX series streaming on Hulu)

Clement Mansell and his tighty-whiteys proved to be even more fixated upon The White Stripes this week, and boy, he knows how to get under Raylan Givens‘ skin. He does so with ease, and since his attorney, Carolyn Wilder, won’t roll over, and Willa Givens knows exactly how to push buttons, the Cowboy Hat is not having a swell time in Detroit. Of course, that means that the audience is having a fantastic time as this season swaggers along.

3. Suits (USA series streaming on Netflix)

What is (still) happening? This series ended in 2019 after nine seasons, but what’s old is apparently new again. This show somehow ended up being the summer streaming hit that no one expected, so let’s hope that the castmates (including Meghan Markle) enjoy their places in a renewed pop-culture phenomenon. They probably earn more residuals through syndication rather than streaming, but I suspect that they are nonetheless tickled, although Prince Harry surely isn’t rewatching those sex scenes that disturb him.

2. Bird Box Barcelona (Netflix film)

Sandra Bullock launched this franchise, which still easily sits in Netflix’s all-time most-streamed lists. This Spanish-language followup goes back in time a bit to where the outbreak began in Spain. Keeping with the brand appeal, of course, this story doesn’t make total sense and still goes for easy thrills, but the franchise remains solidly B-quality, and there’s both the promise of fun and watchability in that kind of universe. Given the success of this second installment, we may very well hear about a third story in the works, too.

1. Interstellar (Paramount movie streaming on Paramount+)

Oppenheimer has already exceeded box-office expectations with Cillian Murphy starring as the so-called “Father of the Atomic Bomb.” The film almost rolls out like a theater production, albeit an explosive one, with an ensemble cast (Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and so many more) that cannot be beat. If you haven’t caught it yet, go now, but additionally, Christopher Nolan fans are tucking into some of his most well-regarded hits, and that includes this twisty Matthew McConaughey/Anne Hathaway wormhole jaunt with Damon in an uncredited but essential role.

The most anticipated fight of the year in boxing arrived on Saturday night in Las Vegas, with Terence Crawford (39-0-0, 30 KOs) met Errol Spence Jr. (28-0-0, 22 KOs) for the title of unanimous welterweight champion of the world, as the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO belts were all on the line at T-Mobile Arena.

Crawford entered the ring with Eminem, as the stars were out for the massive event, with Spence Jr. being joined by fellow Texas native BigXthaPlug, and with the atmosphere in T-Mobile absolutely electric, the fight began. However, it became clear early that Spence was going to have his hands full, as he simply could not figure out the Bud Crawford jab, as he peppered him early and often, earning a knockdown in the second round with a jab combination to give Spence his first taste of the canvas in his professional career.

The early rounds didn’t see Spence gain much ground, as he just consistently got outworked and outlanded by Crawford, who was absolutely on top of his game in this fight. In the seventh round, things began to spiral for Spence as he got sent down for the second time by a counter right hand.

Then, right before the bell Spence took another flush right hook to the chin that dropped him for the third time, as it was starting to get late early.

In the ninth round, Spence continued to take a beating and after a flurry of punches with no real response, the referee jumped in to mercifully stop a one-sided beatdown, giving Crawford a TKO win and the title of the first 4-belt welterweight champion in boxing history.

It was an absolute clinic from Crawford who landed 185 of his 369 punches in the fight including 87 of 206 with the jab and 98 of 163 power punches, as he was simply lethal with the counters. Spence, meanwhile, could not hit Crawford much of anything, as he landed just 96 of 480 punches overall, including a dismal 33 of 296 with the jab. There will be no disputing whether Crawford earned the crown of undisputed welterweight champion of the world, and now the question is simply who is next after an all-time performance.

Boxing continued its incredible run of fights on Saturday night with one of the biggest in recent memory, as Errol Spence Jr. (28-0-0) and Terence Crawford (39-0-0) met in a battle of undefeateds for the right to be called boxing’s undisputed welterweight champion in Las Vegas.

It was set to be the biggest fight of the year, as it was two undefeated champions meeting in their prime, a rarity in the sport. As such, they made sure to make it a full spectacle by bringing out stars for their ring walks, with Terence Crawford making his way to the ring flanked by Eminem as he walked out to “Lose Yourself.”

It is a bit odd that Eminem didn’t actually perform the song, as typically happens when an artist joins a boxer for his ring walk, but he introduced Crawford and strode to the ring by his side as his iconic song played. We got a glimpse at maybe why Em didn’t perform when Errol Spence Jr. came out with BigXthaPlug, who was just off with the lyrics compared to the song playing over the arena speakers.

It was quite the scene in T-Mobile Arena, as the fight had brought out some of the biggest stars in entertainment to watch ringside, ready to witness one of the biggest fights the sport’s had in the last decade.

Saturday night was a highly anticipated fight night in both the boxing and mixed martial arts world, with Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford fighting to be the undisputed welterweight champion in Las Vegas, while UFC 291 in Salt Lake City was pitting Dustin Poirier against Justin Gaethje for the second time as the main event of a loaded card.

Before the main card even got started, the fireworks began as Roman Kopylov set the bar extremely high for the best knockout of the evening when he sent Claudio Ribeiro to the canvas with an absolutely brutal head kick early in the second round to force a stoppage.

The sound of the kick is just vicious, and the referee tried to jump in before Kopylov could even deliver any strikes on the ground — although he did get one punch in before the referee could fully stop things. The commentary team absolutely loses it cageside, with Daniel Cormier in total disbelief, noting “that was BAD” as Kopylov strode triumphantly around the Octagon. It’s about as clean a head kick as you will ever see and Ribeiro never saw it coming, immediately going out as he fell backwards to the mat. The KO win moved Kopylov to 11-2, while Ribeiro dropped to 11-4 after a painful defeat.

As the Indianapolis Colts entered training camp, they did so with one of their best players not exactly happy with his current contract situation. Running back Jonathan Taylor, who is just two years removed from an 1,811 yard rushing season in his sophomore campaign, is entering the last year of his rookie deal and wants an extension. The Colts aren’t particularly interested in making the long-term offer he wants, and as such he has been clearly frustrated as camp has begun.

Taylor has been among the many running backs to voice their frustration with the general running back market on social media, prompting Colts owner Jim Irsay to tweet about the overall running back situation, but very clearly sending a message to Taylor.

The response to that came from Taylor’s agent, making it clear this was going to get messy.

Things got so bad that on Saturday, Irsay and Taylor had a meeting and the only thing that came out of it was Taylor requesting a trade, per Ian Rapoport.

Irsay’s response to the trade request was…dark.

That’s a pretty wild statement to make, but it’s clear he doesn’t plan on budging on his stance in these negotiations and now Taylor will do what he can to find a new team that will pay him what he believes he’s proven to be worth.

Last year, Taylor rushed for 861 yards and four touchdowns in 11 games, battling injuries and just generally dealing with the issues of trying to run the ball when your team has almost no passing attack to threaten defenses. In his first two years, Taylor rushed for just shy of 3,000 yards combined and 29 touchdowns, earning All-Pro honors for his sensational second season. His talents are clear, but what remains to be seen is whether there’s a team out there willing to trade for him knowing he wants a long-term deal wherever he goes.

From Taylor’s side, it’s more than understandable to want to get some financial security after being on a discount making less than $2 million per year. While there are teams willing to pay for a big-time back, it’s not league-wide and he’ll have to hope some team sees his productivity and views him as a franchise type player they want to trade for. Meanwhile the Colts are now staring at the potential of having their new rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson having to start the season without the safety blanket of one of the league’s best running backs.

The Chicago Bulls are coming off of a disappointing 2022-23 season that saw them finish 10th in the East before ultimately losing to the Heat in the final Play-In game. Despite rumblings that Zach LaVine could be available in trades, the Bulls are set to enter the 2023-24 season with the same core group intact, hoping to recapture the magic of the start of the season two years ago.

However, like last season, the Bulls aren’t expected to have Lonzo Ball for any of this upcoming season, leaving a continued hole at point guard. This summer, they mostly went to work keeping their roster as is with a few additions to bolster their rotation, as their hopes for improvement mostly rest on internal improvement. Here we’ll hand out grades for their offseason work so far in the Draft, free agency and contract extensions, and on the trade market.

Draft: B-

The Bulls traded into the top of the second round to take Julian Phillips out of Tennessee at No. 35 overall, adding a long, defensive-minded wing to their bench. The question for Phillips is whether he can refine his jump shot to make himself functional enough offensively to keep him on the court so his defensive abilities and athleticism can shine through, but for a Bulls team needing to try and add some young talent, they took an opportunity on a guy with terrific upside defensively provided he can figure things out on the offensive end.

Free Agency/Contract Extensions: B+

As noted at the top, much of what the Bulls did was taking care of their biggest free agents. They re-signed Nikola Vucevic to a 3-year, $60 million deal that might be a bit steep, but given the lack of other options for replacing him, the Bulls ensuring they brought him back on board made sense. Vucevic averaged 17.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game a year ago, and while he’s not quite been as efficient a scorer as he was when he was an All-Star in Orlando, that’s still pretty strong production. His issues in Chicago have been two-fold, starting with the fact that he’s just not a particularly good defensive center or rim deterrent. That has been magnified by the absence of Ball, who, along with Alex Caruso, gave them constantly strong point of attack defense to mitigate some of Vucevic’s weaknesses on the back end. The other issue is his offensive fit with DeMar DeRozan, as Vucevic is more of a finesse post player (to the frustration of Bulls fans who want him to play with more force near the rim) and, as such, likes to operate in many of the same places as DeRozan when he posts up. That creates a bit of a spacing issue when he’s not outside the three-point line, where he is a good shooter for a center, but has not been able to top 35 percent in his two full seasons with the Bulls. Figuring out how to maximize his abilities alongside DeRozan (and to a lesser extent Zach LaVine) is a question they haven’t found quite the right answer to yet in Chicago. The Bulls also re-signed Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu, keeping their two young guards around for the next three years as well. White was their best bench shooter a year ago, knocking down 37.2 percent of his threes, while Dosunmu gives them a guard who likes to run and can get downhill.

Their biggest new roster addition is Jevon Carter, who I think is their best signing of the offseason. Calling Carter a Lonzo Ball replacement isn’t really fair to him, because he is far from the same player, but he will allow them to once again have 48 minutes of strong point of attack defense every night when he comes in to spell Caruso. That’s been missing in Chicago without Ball, and if Carter can continue to be a very good three-point shooter as he has been recently (he hit over 40 percent from three in Milwaukee last season), he should be a very helpful backup point guard even if he is not necessarily the kind of facilitator this offense could use. The Bulls also signed Torrey Craig, who gives them another 3-and-D wing option and is a nice addition to their rotation as well. Overall, while not exactly an exciting summer of signings, I think Chicago did well to address an area of need with the Carter signing, kept the players they needed to keep if they’re going to stay on this path (and it’s clear they want to), and made their roster a little better than it was last year.

Trades: INC

As mentioned earlier, there were the annual rumors about LaVine’s availability, but at this point it seems the Bulls are going to give it one more year (or at least the start of another year) to see if this group can figure it out before they consider making major changes. That’s understandable, but if this is a team in the Play-In range come January with little signs of life, you can bet we’ll hear more rumors about LaVine and DeRozan being part of trade talks. This offseason wasn’t a spot to really hit the reset button for Chicago, simply because they were without a first round draft pick and the league is still in a very weird place when it comes to star trade value after last summer’s bonanza of draft picks exchanging hands. As such, LaVine never came close to drawing the interest the Bulls hoped he would, and if they can’t get the kind of return to fully kickstart a rebuild, there’s no real use in just selling low on him. Still, the clock is ticking for this particularly group in Chicago and if they haven’t shown much improvement by the start of 2024, I would expect a more serious discussion of larger changes ahead of the deadline.

Not a lot of people saw The Flash, the much-hyped solo superhero outing whose anticlimactic underperformance all but put the final nail in the DCEU coffin. (There is still a second Aquaman en route, though.) Those that did got to see a stunning sight: Nicolas Cage as Superman. Or maybe they didn’t. The cameo is very brief — so brief that the star himself joked that he almost missed it himself.

In an interview with USA Today (in a bit caught by The Hollywood Reporter), Cage was asked about his semi-surprise appearance in the first and almost certainly final big screen outing for Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen. The appearance is a nod to Superman Lives, the aborted attempt in the late ‘90s to bring Clark Kent back to the big screen, which got so far that Cage actually got to wear the suit. So what did he think of finally seeing himself as Supes.

“Well, I was glad I didn’t blink,” Cage joked. He elaborated, though. “For me, it was the feeling of being actualized. Even that look for that particular character, finally seeing it on screen, was satisfying. But as I said, it’s quick.”

Cage even hinted at what his take on Kal-El — the name he gave his son, incidentally — would have been like.

“If you really wanted to know what I was going do with that character, look at my performance in City of Angels,” he said, referring to the loose remake of Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire from 1998.

Cage has opened up about the failure of Superman Lives before, which was to be directed at one point by Tim Burton and would feature at one point a battle with a giant spider. Back in 2015 he said it’s a good thing it never got off the ground.

(Via USA Today and THR)

A.G. Cook has been a prominent figure in UK’s electronic dance music scene for over a decade. One of his earliest breakthroughs came in the form of a song called “Beautiful,” which first played in his label PC Music’s Tank Mix in 2013. Cook officially released the first version of “Beautiful” — a hyperpop dance track — in 2014. A year later, the song appeared on PC Music’s inaugural compilation, PC Music, Vol. 1, as the collection’s lead track.

Now, as the song is now a decade old, Cook has released an updated version of the song.

“Beautiful / Baby, when you look at me, you know that I’ll be here forever / Baby, when I look at you, I know that we’ll be here together,” sings a pitched-up voice throughout the course of the three-minute song.

2023 also marks the 10th anniversary of PC Music, which Cook founded. The label has housed several artists over the course of the past decade, including Hannah Diamond, GFOTY, Danny L Harle, EASYFUN, and Namasenda. Back in June, Cook took to Instagram to reveal that PC Music would cease to put out original releases by the end of the year.

“After a decade of @pcmus we’re announcing that 2023 will be our final year of new releases,” read the post’s caption, “and that from 2024 onwards the label will be fully dedicated to archival projects & special reissues. Can’t wait to share everything we have coming this year & beyond.”

You can listen to “Beautiful (2023 Edit)” above.

On the star-studded Barbie soundtrack, Lizzo opens the collection of songs with “Pink,” an ode to Barbie’s favorite color. While the song has become a fan-favorite on the soundtrack, garnering over 14.2 million loops on TikTok, according to a press release, a different version of the song plays during the movie, in a particularly notable moment.

Without spoiling the movie, a darker version of “Pink” plays in a scene where Margot Robbie’s Barbie character is experiencing an existential crisis. This particular version was not included on Barbie The Album, however it has since been released to streaming services today (July 29), in the form of “Pink (Bad Day).”

Though “Pink (Bad Day)” clocks in at just over a minute long, the song encapsulates a key moment in the movie. We’d share some lyrics, but even those might be spoilers for those who haven’t seen it.

Following the premiere of Barbie last weekend, a special edition of the soundtrack titled Barbie The Album: Best Weekend Ever Edition was released, featuring Ryan Gosling’s cover of Matchbox 20’s “Push” and Brandi Carlile and Caroline Carlile’s cover of Indigo Girls’ “Closer To Fine.”

You can listen to “Pink (Bad Day)” above.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For months, Ron DeSantis avoided the mainstream media. He exclusively spoke with far right organizations, living in a bubble where he could look and talk tough without anyone asking him any hard questions. Could it work? Nope. Six weeks into his campaign he had to do a reboot, which included gutting staff. It also means talking to reporters who won’t throw him softball questions — or ignore that he’s still trailing way behind his state’s most famous resident.

As per Mediaite, Friday night’s edition of NBC Nightly News featured reporter Gabe Gutierrez sat down with the Florida governor for what the latter surely knew wasn’t going to be an easy chat. He tried to sound like the more reasonable choice for the Republican ticket.

“If we make it about the vision for the future, we’re going to win,” DeSantis declared. “Obviously, with me as the nominee, you know, we’re going to focus on Biden’s failures and our vision for the future. That’s what the election will be about. If Donald Trump is the nominee, it’s going to be about all those other issues.”

Gutierrez took umbrage with his confidence, telling him, “With all due respect, Governor, you’re down by 30 points, though.”

DeSantis then paused for three whole seconds — not a long stretch of time, but a small eternity when it comes to a news interview. He stared ahead, as though in disbelief that anyone would dare point out the cold, hard facts about his dumpster fire of a campaign. It was a moment reminiscent of the massive brain fart he had during a debate last year when challenger Charlie Crist dared him to admit to voters that he was going to ditch his governor duties to run for president.

When DeSantis finally spoke, it was clear some nerves had been twisted in his brain. “Well, no, I mean, that… Says you!” he said, adding, “I mean, I can tell you, we’ve been in Iowa. I’m the one showing up at all these places. We’re signing up people day after day here in Iowa.”

Gutierrez was likely referring to a new poll from Fox Business Network, which showed Trump ruling the state with 46%. DeSantis was in a distant second, at a mere 16%. In most polls DeSantis tends to lag behind in the 20s, and considering how much time he’s been spending in Iowa, this is far from encouraging.

But if DeSantis wants to go with anecdotal evidence of what he’s seeing on the ground versus actually polling, he’s free to delude himself as much as he wants. After all, it’s a free country.

(Via Mediaite)