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As is, unfortunately, typically the case the week before the NBA All-Star Game, Adam Silver had some decisions to make regarding injury replacements for this coming weekend’s festivities in San Francisco.

With Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo out through the All-Star break with a calf strain and Mavs star Anthony Davis out with an adductor injury, Silver would need to add a player to the All-Star roster from each conference — even with the new mini-tournament format that features three teams drafted by the Inside the NBA crew. On Monday, Silver made the selection in the East, putting Hawks guard Trae Young on Team Chuck in place of Antetokounmpo, rewarding the NBA’s assists leader with his fourth All-Star selection.

Young is averaging 23.5 points and 11.4 assists per game for the Atlanta Hawks, as he has been at the center of everything Atlanta is doing offensively this season with Dejounte Murray now in New Orleans. He — and Jalen Johnson, who had an All-Star case before he was lost for the season with a shoulder injury — has led the Hawks to a 25-28 record as the All-Star break nears despite a number of injuries and has Atlanta firmly in the Play-In race out East in ninth currently.

The other candidates for the replacement spot in the East were Tyrese Maxey, Franz Wagner, and Jarrett Allen, but Young, as the NBA’s assists leader, had the most compelling case and earns a trip to San Francisco. As for the replacement pick out West, that will have to wait until Davis is officially ruled out, as his injury timeline has not been announced by the Mavericks yet as he continues to go through tests.

Yesterday (February 9) was Kendrick Lamar’s moment as he performed the Super Bowl Halftime Show. It was a big one for SZA, too, as she joined Lamar for a couple songs. While later reflecting on her new career highlight, SZA said she actually wasn’t nervous about it.

Following the performance, SZA took to Instagram to share a gallery of photos and videos from her big day, writing:

“THANK YOU @kendricklamar for consistently putting the world on your back . At all times . Thank you for lifting me up . Thank you for encouraging me and being so willing to bend to whatever I may need . Thank you to your incredible team and mine ! You’re a prophet . But you knew that . I wasn’t nervous today . I was ready to rep for u. For US . Thank you God ,Dot, and the NFL for this opportunity #SUPERBOWL2025 wrapped.”

In an interview ahead of the show, SZA revealed she was surprised when Lamar asked her to join him, saying, “I didn’t expect that at all. I was on the internet like everyone else being like ‘Oh, he’s about to eat that sh*t.’ […] I just knew that he wasn’t going to ask me, ’cause that would be crazy. And he did! And I laughed. And I was like, ‘OK.’ It just was a matter of me being about to commit to that moment, because I just feel like he’s so flawless. I’ve never seen a flaw in any performance or any offering that he’s ever given, and I just wanna be, you know, on par with that energy and just give as much as I can.”

It’s true that romcoms have been on the back burner for, oh, at least a decade. Perhaps audiences got burned out by too many shirtless McConaugheys, but more than likely, people simply decided that it’s so much easier to simply stream these stories (versus tentpole movies) rather than head to the multiplex. That is, unless the romcom in question happens to star Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell because c’mon, audiences are only human.

In the streaming realm, Netflix has dominated the romcom game with titles like The Kissing Booth and other teen-geared movies, but a more adult romcom series (starring Kristen Bell as sex-friendly podcaster Joanne and Adam Brody as rabbi Noah) went stratospheric last year for Netflix when Nobody Wants This took off to a degree that surprised the stars.

Well, there will be more of this show after Nobody Wants This scored a speedy renewal, so let’s gather up what has been disclosed thus far.

Release Date

Late last year, Brody revealed that filming would start in February, and the second season would be on Netflix “by September next year.” Whereas Jackie Tohn (who portrays Noah’s sister, Esther), recently updated Deadline on filming moving to March 3, but that still makes it possible to return within a year after the first season streamed in Sept. 2024. (And Netflix’s new sizzle reel does confirm the 2025 window.)

Adding to that momentum, creator Erin Foster, Bell, and Brody suggested to Deadline that four or five seasons would be an ideal duration for this series.

Plot

As viewers are surely aware, Nobody Wants This is a semi-autobiographical series from creator Erin Foster and inspired by the formerly agnostic Foster’s own experience of falling in love with her Jewish husband, Simon Tikhman. The series spices things up considerably with Kristen Bell’s agnostic character, Joanne, also being frozen out by Noah’s Jewish family. That friction contributed to a season finale in which Joanne cut the relationship short after realizing that she’s not prepared to convert to Judaism. Of course, the cliffhanger ending revealed that Noah attempted to convince Joanne to give coupledom another shot, and they kissed, presumably ready to try again.

Why did this show carry so much appeal? As Adam Brody told Variety, this success can be partially explained by audiences wanting to leave their stress behind, “and there doesn’t seem to be many romantic comedies, period.” Kristen Bell echoed that sentiment: “There was a ton of really great, intense, hardcore television that ‘Breaking Bad’ inspired… and something lovely in the rom-com space hadn’t been felt by the masses in a while.”

To complicate matters, Noah finished the season while poised to become a head rabbi, meaning that Joanne needs to get with the program if she wants this to work, so what has Erin Foster revealed about the next season? She confirmed to Deadline that Joanne and Noah’s love story is happening much slower than initially planned. Foster also hints that the story is “just more or less a continuation” because the first season worked well, so why mess with success? The audience clearly enjoyed the show’s drip-drip approach as a “real-time”-type story, so there will be more of the same:

“Netflix, I have to give a lot of credit, because they pushed us to go as slow as possible in Season 1. Like you said, originally they ended in getting engaged, they ended in getting married, maybe. It was way too fast. We slowed it all down. When you watch the season, it feels like you’re really with them in real time, dating. It spans the course of what, three months in Season 1 maybe? You really feel the weight of each moment because experiencing it in real time as opposed to lots of time passing, so we’re going to continue going on that slow trajectory … All the big, romantic moments that you want to feel in that first year of a relationship, we want the audience to be able to feel. I know now what hooked people and what sunk in and what stood out, so the goal is to give people that and not make some weird artistic choice and rob them of the joy they want to feel.

Cast

For sure, Kristen Bell and Adam Brody will be back as Joanne and Noah. Netflix hasn’t breathed a word about additional casting, but presumably, their borderline intrusive fams will be back, including Morgan (Justine Lupe), Sasha (Timothy Simons), Esther (Jackie Tohn), and Bina (Tovah Feldshuh).

Trailer

In lieu of a trailer, it’s worth watching Adam Brody blowing away expectations in FX/Hulu’s Fleishmann Is In Trouble. His character debuted as a straight-up finance bro but blossomed into so much more.

Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show was hotly anticipated, and the rapper definitely delivered. Towards the end of the set, Lamar busted out the track everybody was waiting for: “Not Like Us.”

It was reported ahead of the big game that Lamar would indeed perform the Drake diss track, but that there was some uncertainty about how the network would handle it, given that the song is currently at the center of defamation allegations.

Well, Lamar found a way to make it work, by cutting out the line where he alleges Drake is a “pedophile” (although everybody watching knows the lyric already). Perhaps the most viral moment of the performance, though, was when he called out Drake by name (as he does on the original song), saying, “Say Drake, I hear you like ’em young.” What made the moment pop off online, though, is that Lamar looked right down the barrel of the camera and smiled wide as he said it, which made for quite the screenshot that was shared heavily on social media.

Meanwhile, elsewhere during the set, Lamar also performed “Squabble Up,” “Humble,” “DNA,” “Euphoria,” “Man At The Garden,” “Peekaboo,” “Luther” (with SZA), “All The Stars” (also with SZA), and “TV Off.”

Watch the full halftime show here.

What a no good, very bad week for Drake. Last Sunday, Kendrick Lamar won Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year at the Grammys for “Not Like Us,” his generational diss track against the “First Person Shooter” rapper. This Sunday, he performed the song with a diabolical grin on his face in front of 70,000-plus people inside the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, and over 120 million more watching around the world.

The in-stadium reaction to “Not Like Us” — in particular the “Why you trollin’ like a b*tch? Ain’t you tired? / Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor” line — sounded loud on TV, but it was deafening for those in attendance. “can confirm: that a-minor was nasty in the stadium,” @bre_style wrote on X, along with video evidence shot from the stands.

You can watch it here.

Back in November 2024, Lamar explained to SZA (who joined him during the halftime show) what “Not Like Us” means to him. “Not like us? Not like us is the energy of who I am, the type of man I represent. Now, if you identify with the man that I represent…” he said. “This man has morals, he has values, he believes in something, he stands on something. He’s not pandering. He’s a man who can recognize his mistakes and not be afraid to share the mistakes and can dig deep down into fear-based ideologies or experiences to be able to express them without feeling like he’s less of a man.

Lamar added, “If I’m thinking of ‘Not Like Us,’ I’m thinking of me and whoever identifies with that.”

It’s impossible to know Netflix‘s most expensive movie, but don’t be surprised if it’s The Electric State. The film, which reunites the directors (Anthony and Joe Russo) and writers (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, has a reported $300-ish million budget. That’s, uh, quite the chunk of change, but it’s money well spent if The Electric State ends up being the level of hit it almost assuredly will be.

Here’s everything to know The Electric State, including plot details, the cast, and release date.

Plot

Set in an retro-futuristic version of the 1990s, The Electric State follows Michelle (played by Millie Bobby Brown), a young woman who is traveling west across the United States in search of her brother who she thought was dead. She’s joined by a catchphrase-speaking robot and, along the way, a smuggler named Keats (Chris Pratt) and his robot sidekick. There’s lots of robots.

As per the Netflix synopsis:

“As they venture into the Exclusion Zone, a walled-off corner in the desert where robots now exist on their own, Keats and Michelle find a colorful group of new animatronic allies — and begin to learn that there may be something even more sinister afoot.”

The Electric State is inspired by the acclaimed graphic novel of the same name from Simon Stålenhag, who said he was “blown away by the movie. It was an amazing experience watching things that I have drawn come to life this way. What resonated most with me was the emotional core of the movie, which is the need for family. Even though the movie has changed genre from the book a bit, that main core is still the same and has been expanded on beautifully.”

The robots (including Mr. Peanut!) will get the attention of sci-fi fans, but there’s a human element to the film, too, that moved Pratt to tears.

“It’s not the kind of thing that typically gets made to be a blockbuster style movie like this. It’s so original, it’s a huge swing,” the Parks and Recreation star said during New York Comic-Con. “I thought that these types of movies might be my last opportunity to be in a big movie like this. I have to look at every opportunity like that. And I did. It’s just such a great story. I was moved to tears reading.”

Pratt being in a Russos-directed movie makes sense — he’s Star-Lord in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bobby Brown had a different connection to the filmmakers. “I had the privilege of going to set on Avengers to watch the Russos direct when I was 13,” she explained. “I was filming Stranger Things and they invited me. I remember watching them and thinking, ‘I want to be an actor, I want to work with them, that was so cool.’ I made that my goal.”

Cast

The Electric State cast is led by frequent Netflix star Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, who play Michelle and Keats, respectively.

There’s also Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan as Dr. Amherst, Stanley Tucci as Ethan Skate, Woody Norman (the kid from C’Mon C’Mon) as Christopher, Martin Klebba as Herman, Jason Alexander as Ted Finnster, and Giancarlo Esposito as Colonel Marshall Bradbury. The various robots are voiced by Anthony Mackie as Herman, Alan Tudyk as Cosmo, Woody Harrelson as Mr. Peanut, Brian Cox as Pop Fly, Jenny Slate as Penny Pal, and Hank Azaria as Perplexo.

Release Date

The Electric State premieres on Netflix on March 14.

Trailer

Check out the trailer for The Electric State below.

It was a tough night for the Kansas City Chiefs and their supporters yesterday (February 9): After a scoreless first half in the Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles, the team ended up losing 40-22, unable to pull off a third consecutive Super Bowl victory. It was also a bit of a weird night for Taylor Swift, at least for a minute.

Swift was in attendance to support Travis Kelce, of course, and when she was shown on the big screen, Philly fans showered her with boos. Swift, somebody who’s not used to getting that kind of reaction from massive crowds, looked around with a confused look on her face before cracking a smile and seemingly asking somebody near her, “What’s going on?” (Here’s a video.)

Swift, of course, has some history with Philadelphia and the city’s Lincoln Financial Field, given that she was raised in Pennsylvania and her father is an Eagles fan. After performing at the venue on The Eras Tour in 2023, Swift wrote in a post on social media, “Philly was a dream, honestly. Playing three nights in the stadium I used to see on tv when my dad watched Eagles games every Sunday. The most magical 3 hometown shows a girl could hope for.”

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival debut of Magazine Dreams drew critical accolades for Jonathan Majors’ portrayal of a troubled (to put it mildly) bodybuilder who pushes himself to the brink of emotional and physical destruction. The film won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award at that lauded festival, and Searchlight Pictures acquired distribution rights with the movie being lauded as a breakout role for Majors that would take him beyond the MCU. That was before the Kang actor was found guilty of recklessly assaulting and harassing ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari. Months after Searchlight dropped the movie from its release schedule, Majors received probation and 52 weeks of a domestic violence intervention program.

Several months later, Magazine Dreams has a new release date, so let’s circle back on what to expect from Majors’ turn as a bodybuilder.

Plot

Majors portrays Killian Maddox, a troubled and volatile amateur bodybuilder obsessed by his ambition to become a fitness icon. His all-consuming regimen propels him further into emotional isolation and self destruction. Aside from his self-punishing gym sessions (and steroid use), he juggles therapy sessions, his grocery store job, and sparse familial obligations while falling further into emotional isolation.

As heavy as those themes are, Majors’ journey to become jacked for this role is (of course) what made headlines from the movie’s press junkets. As Majors told Variety, he trained for “two hours, two times a day for the movie and a third time after wrap. Meanwhile, you eat six times a day. Lots of chicken. Lots of elk. That’s just for me. I like it.” From the movie’s synopsis:

Killian Maddox is consumed by his dream of becoming a world famous bodybuilder and one day gracing the cover of fitness magazines. He lives a lonely, regimented life, and his relentless drive for perfection only pushes him deeper towards self destruction, but beneath his tenacious pursuit of superstardom lies a desperate, aching need for human connection. As he battles both the limits of his physical body and his own inner demons, MAGAZINE DREAMS explores the lengths one man will go in his haunting quest for recognition in a world that often overlooks him.

Trailer

“Intense” barely begins to describe this full trailer released by Briarcliff Entertainment.

Cast

Jonathan Majors stars as Killian Maddox. He is joined by Harrison Page, Taylour Page, Haley Bennett, and Mike O’Hearn.

Release Date

Magazine Dreams arrives in theaters on March 21.

Trailer

Since we’ve already included the trailer, here’s Majors telling Variety about his copious workout and diet regimen to prep for this role.

While the NBA All-Star rosters are set at 24 players, 12 from each conference, we typically see at least 25 or 26 players end up with All-Star honors each season due to the unfortunate reality of injuries taking players out of the midseason festivities.

This year, NBA commissioner Adam Silver will have to select an injury replacement for a player in each conference, as Giannis Antetokounmpo is dealing with a calf injury and Anthony Davis suffered an adductor injury in his Mavs debut. Both stars will be out through the All-Star break and it will be up to the commissioner to fill their spots. Given this year’s mini-tournament format, the two teams getting replacements will be Team Shaq (Davis) and Team Barkley (Giannis), but the replacements will still come from the conference pool of candidates.

Typically, Silver goes with the player who was the last man out in the reserve voting from the coaches, but since the coaches’ voting is information not made public, we are left to wonder who that will be. The commissioner also does not have to replace them with frontcourt players if a guard is deemed more deserving, and that could come into play in both cases. Here, we’ll look at the players that figure to have the best case for an All-Star replacement selection.

EAST

Trae Young

If position doesn’t come into play, Young could be the guy to get the nod. He’s leading the league in assists (11.4 per game) by a large margin and is averaging 23.5 points per game scoring to boot. The Hawks fell off at the wrong time for reserve voting, but they’re still clinging to a Play-In spot in ninth in the East, in large part due to Young.

Tyrese Maxey

It’s probably between Young and Maxey if position doesn’t matter, as the Sixers guard has been unbelievable of late for a Philly team still clawing and fighting to get into the Play-In picture. He’s averaging 28.1 points and 6.2 assists per game and, like Young, is having to carry a huge offensive load for his team.

Franz Wagner

If Silver decides to go for a frontcourt-for-frontcourt swap, things get trickier due to other injuries in the East. Wagner has the best statistical case, averaging 25.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game in Orlando, but the question is whether playing just 34 out of 54 games due to an oblique injury earlier this year is enough in the eyes of the commissioner.

Jarrett Allen

If Wagner hasn’t played enough, then Allen could get the nod as the fourth Cavalier in the game. The NBA always likes to reward winning and while Allen’s 13.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game don’t scream All-Star, he’s a vital part of the league’s best team going into the break.

WEST

Domantas Sabonis

I don’t think it should be as difficult a decision in the West, as you can make a big-for-big swap and bring in a guy with a clear All-Star case in Sabonis. He’s averaging 20.5 points and leading the league with 14.5 rebounds per game on pretty crazy efficiency for a Kings team holding strong in the West’s Play-In race at the break.

Kyrie Irving

That said, it’s not always as easy as it seems and if Silver looks for other options there are three guards all with very similar resumes that could be considered. The first is Davis’ new teammate in Dallas, as Irving is averaging 24.1 points, 4.8 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game on strong efficiency and is a perennial All-Star, which probably shouldn’t come into play but can factor into the decision.

De’Aaron Fox

The second is Sabonis’ now-former teammate, who is now in San Antonio playing with Victor Wembanyama. Fox is averaging 25.0 points, 6.1 assists, and 5.0 rebounds per game, and if the league really wants to drive Kings fans insane, it’d pick Fox over Sabonis right after the former got traded.

Devin Booker

The final option is another All-Star staple of recent years, and Booker is once again posting solid averages of 26.4 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds. The Suns’ general dysfunction has been a major story all year, but they’re still a .500 team in the Play-In picture despite how terrible the vibes seem in the desert. All three of Irving, Fox, and Booker have very similar statistical profiles on Play-In hopefuls right now, which is why I think Sabonis is the much simpler choice.

Anthony Davis made his Dallas Mavericks debut on Saturday and was sensational, particularly in the first half, as he led the Mavs to a win over the Houston Rockets. However, there was cause for concern as Davis left the game late in the third quarter with what the team simply called a “lower body injury”.

Given Davis’ injury history and he was just making his return from an abdominal injury, it was an inauspicious way for his first game with his new team to come to an end. After the game, Davis spoke with reporters and said he thought he’d be “fine,” noting he was struggling to get his leg to loosen up between his quadricep and groin. Unfortunately, Davis’ self-diagnosis was a bit more optimistic than the actual one, as Shams Charania reported he was expected to miss multiple weeks with an adductor injury, while Marc Stein reported he could be out indefinitely with further tests to come to determine if he will require surgery or not.

Whatever the case, it’s a significant blow to the Mavericks and will not help alleviate the pressure and frustration from fans after the Luka Doncic trade. The first half against Houston gave brief hope that, perhaps, Dallas’ vision of building a team around Davis and Kyrie Irving and leaning on their defense would make them a contender. Now they are going to be without Davis for at least a chunk of time, making it unlikely they’ll be able to make a real push into the West playoff picture. At 28-25, the Mavs are currently 8th in the West, 1.5 games ahead of the Kings and 1.5 back of the Clippers.

If there is a silver lining, it’s that there will be a week without games during the All-Star break. Davis will join Giannis Antetokounmpo as All-Stars sidelined with injuries during the festivities in San Francisco, with Adam Silver making injury replacement selections for both some time this week.