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Fresh off the release of his joint album with Danger Mouse, Cheat Codes, Black Thought will continue his recent prolific streak with another collaborative album this spring. This time, he’s teaming up with El Michels Affair, a self-described “cinematic soul” band from New York best known for backing Freddie Gibbs and Madlib in their 2019 NPR Tiny Desk Concert, to release Glorious Game. The album is due April 14 through Big Crown, and accompanying the announcement, they have shared the first track, the reggae sampling “Grateful.” Check it out below.

According to a press release, Thought first met El Michels Affair frontman Leon Michels in the early 2000s, performing together at charity concerts in their respective hometown. During the pandemic, Thought reached out to Michels for new beats to record to, resulting in the foundation for Glorious Game. Michels had previously released the albums Adult Themes in 2020 and Yeti Season in 2021, as well as a handful of tribute albums covering songs from Isaac Hayes and Wu-Tang Clan. In 2020, they also reimagined Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s Bandana on The Diamond Mine Sessions.

Meanwhile, Black Thought has been extremely prolific of late outside his role as frontman for The Tonight Show house band The Roots. While the majority of his output prior to 2018 was with The Roots, that year he put out the Streams Of Thought EPs with 9th Wonder and Salaam Remi, following up with the full-length Streams Of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Able produced by Sean C in 2020, then Cheat Codes last year. He’s also working on a stage show and writing for television alongside longtime production partner Questlove.

While reading the first batch of reviews for Plane, the latest action thriller starring Gerard Butler, there’s a word that pops up a lot: “throwback.” Despite looking like the type of film that would go straight-to-video, Plane is surprisingly racking up rave reviews as critics are here for the ’90s-style action that’s gone missing in these days of CGI superhero extravaganzas. It also doesn’t hurt that Butler has continued to be a certified action star even after his years of churning out romantic comedies. (Remember those?)

Like M3GAN, Plane is disrupting the old maxim that January is a dumping ground for films because critics are loving this tight action thriller filled that would’ve been right at home next to Air Force One or Executive Decision back in the day.

You can see what the critics are saying below:

Mike Ryan, Uproxx:

A movie like Plane is so rare and such a throwback, it comes off as a refreshing breather from what we usually get fed at theaters these days. Like its title, Plane is a tight and to-the-point movie and I had a whole lot of fun watching it. (Also, as a bonus, like most movies from that era, once the plot is wrapped up, it “just ends.”)

David Ehrlich, IndieWire:

Jean-François Richet’s “Plane” becomes the most airworthy Gerard Butler vehicle this side of “Greenland” by answering a question that Clint Eastwood didn’t even have the courage to ask: What if, instead of ditching US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River like a total loser, Capt. Sully Sullenberger had been man enough to land that baby in the middle of a steroidal ’80s action movie?

Owen Gleiberman, Variety:

“Plane” is fodder, but the picture brazens through its own implausibilities, carried along — and occasionally aloft — by Gerard Butler’s squinty dynamo resolve.

Nick Schager, The Daily Beast:

Arguably the best of Hollywood’s old-school action heroes, Butler is in fine macho form in Jean-François Richet’s feature, which hits theaters Jan. 13, proving once again that few marquee leads are as comfortable, and skilled, at kicking ass in do-or-die genre efforts.

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter:

In his newest film, Plane, Butler plays an airline pilot, so you can rest assured that his flight is not going to go smoothly. Fortunately for moviegoers, the veteran Scottish actor is an engaging, charismatic presence, and Plane is the sort of breathlessly paced suspenser that barely leaves a moment for audiences to stop suspending their disbelief.

Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times:

Jean-François Richet’s “Plane” is as efficient, economical and effective as its title, which is a good one, actually — clear, descriptive, communicates what the film is about. The characterization in the screenplay by Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis is lean to the point of scanty, but we’re given just enough to suffice, and any more would be overkill. Much like the aircraft itself for the majority of “Plane,” this taut thriller remains grounded and gritty.

Plane lands in theaters on January 13.

Colin Farrell has had a busy week between winning awards and being in the presence of Jennifer Coolidge, but he also took some time to reach out to co-star Jeremy Renner after his serious snow plow injury. The two starred together in the 2003 action movie S.W.A.T alongside Samuel L. Jackson.

Farrell said that he had “been in touch” with Renner after the actor’s accident left him in the ICU. “He’s doing good, I believe,” Farrell told Entertainment Tonight. “All prayers are with him.” Renner has been in good spirits after the accident and even shared some posts from his hospital bed, so things are looking up on that front.

Farrell recently won a Golden Globe for his role in the friendship breakup drama The Banshees of Inisherin where he was injured by a donkey named Jenny. This is quite a different legacy than he was expecting, as Farrell recently admitted that he thought he was never going to make it as an actor after starring in the critically-panned epic Alexander.

“The reviews came out, and I remember someone going, ‘Oh God, it’s not good.’ And my publicist going, ‘It’s really not good.,’” the actor explained in a recent interview. “And then after that, yeah, I did question. I went, ‘I’m just shite at it. I’m a crap actor. I’ve been found out,’” of course, nobody remembers that, so Farrell is still a well-loved actor….by most, but not all, of his co-stars.

(Via People)

Yesterday, SZA dropped the entertaining video for her hit song, “Kill Bill.” Drawing visual inspiration from the Tarantino movie of the same title, SZA enlisted one of the original actresses, Vivica A. Fox, to help her carry out a revenge plot.

Still, fans watching SZA’s music video were clearly on the hunt for any and all possible Easter eggs. Given that she’s dropped clues in her past videos, from teasing snippets of songs at the end of “Shirt,” to using a license plate to announce when her sophomore album, SOS, would drop — it’s not far-fetched that there could be some secrets embedded in “Kill Bill.”

Fans spotted that the motorcycle license plate used in the “Kill Bill” video read August, sparking speculation that the deluxe version of SOS would be dropping this summer. (It also had “SOS” in bright red letters.)

However, SZA logged on to social media to shut those theories down, tweeting, “The deluxe is not coming out in august lol it’s just a license plate.”

Despite her statement, fans in the quotes joked back about the fact that the deluxe version might be dropping earlier and the fact that they couldn’t trust her. “She knew to have these comments off,” one person wrote.

“Then wtf is coming on aug 2023,” another added.

View some additional fan reactions to SZA’s SOS deluxe tweet.

Vladimir Putin and his remaining allies sure are a sensitive bunch. Perhaps those fancy “rings of power” do something to the psyche? There’s no telling if that’s the case, but Putin’s ego has led him to persist in reportedly planning to draft another 500,000 Russian recruits for his ill-fated Ukraine invasion. And from there, the massive casualties look to pile up even further.

The Daily Beast relays how the Kremlin currently has its nose out of joint after David Pressman, the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, referred to Putin as a “small man” who can only “can only lead through fear and intimidation.” Pressman also credited Ukrainians for refusing to “return to a broken, abusive system that had failed them for so long.” And from there, the Kremlin apparently spurred up a response from a Russian embassy regarding Pressman’s remarks:

In a Telegram post on Tuesday, the Russian embassy in Hungary went on a tirade against Pressman’s “unacceptable” remarks about “the personality of a foreign Head of State,” calling his comments “an outrageous violation of basic diplomatic protocol and practice,” according to Russian state news agency TASS.

In addition, Pressman (and his “lack of professionalism”) received a recommendation to absorb the works of Henry Kissinger, including Diplomacy. It’s bizarre! There’s no word on whether Vladimir Putin was in on this bookstore push, but he’s also got enough to clean up, considering that his war has been going for nearly a year with zero signs that a Russian victory is in the cards.

(Via The Daily Beast)

The Banshees of Inisherin is an unusual movie. Martin McDonagh’s extremely Irish film documents the sudden dissolution of a long friendship. Colin Farrell plays Pádraic, a man living on a small island off the coast of Ireland in 1923. He’s a simple man. He loves animals, especially his donkey, Jenny. Every day he goes to the pub with his best friend Colm, played by Brendan Gleeson. One day, Colm decides that he doesn’t want to be friends with Pádraic anymore. Pádraic can’t take the hint and spends the entire film trying to win his BFF back. The consequences are dire: every time Pádraic talks to Colm, Colm chops off one of his own fingers.

Farrell’s performance as the hurt, rather dense Irishman is a career-best. It’s subtle but resonant. His eyebrows have never been more expressive, but the rest of the performance is quiet and personal. It’s difficult to visually represent the pain over losing a friend, but Farrell captures an overall heaviness both in mind and body with his innocent doe eyes, an insecure slouch, and the weighty urgency of someone in a crisis. Farrell works brilliantly with Gleeson to make both men’s challenging perspectives make sense.

But Farrell’s greatest challenge in Banshees is his greatest accomplishment as an actor in his decades-long career: Pádraic is completely ordinary but also completely compelling. This is the essential element to Farrell’s performance: the audience has to understand Colm’s perspective but empathize with Pádraic, which requires endless layers of awareness, making every blink, word, and step essential. If Farrell’s performance had been a little too sweet, the film wouldn’t work. If his performance had emphasized Pádraic’s dullness just a bit more, it wouldn’t work, either. Farrell strikes an impossible, invisible balance. On top of all that, Farrell, within seconds of screentime, establishes an emotional bond with a donkey that leads to one of the most gut-wrenching moments in modern cinema, even though the concept of a donkey dying because it choked on the finger of a man who was chopping off his fingers because he didn’t want to be friends with someone anymore is violently funny.

Banshees arrived just months after Farrell’s transformative performance as the Penguin in The Batman, which came out in March 2022 (feels like it came out two weeks ago or twenty years ago now, though). Farrell has a singular edge to him, both in his performance style and personal life (a favorite pastime of mine is browsing photos of him going on runs where he somehow captures this vibe perfectly). This bad boy-but-soft quality is evident in his best and worst performances in films like In Bruges (best), Daredevil (worst but still iconic), Minority Report (best), and True Detective season 2 (worst, and I bet you forgot about it). Behind pounds of unnecessary prosthetics as the Penguin, Farrell’s edge still shines, adding a new layer to the mobster caricature. The performance, undoubtedly more inspired by Mario the plumber than Chris Pratt’s voice performance as Mario the plumber in the upcoming Super Mario Brothers animated film, proved Farrell’s range stretches far beyond what anyone could imagine, probably even Farrell himself.

While Banshees is more of a return to form for Farrell, it is his most in-depth, personal work: a culmination of his personality, performance style, and decades-long career that has, at times, floundered. The Best Actor race this awards season is more competitive: almost anyone in the conversation from Austin Butler in Elvis to Bill Nighy in Living has a chance, and anyone could easily make an argument for them to win, kind of like how there are compelling arguments for both Pádraic and Colm. But please, personally I am begging every awards voter to vote Farrell for his touching, sensitive performance in Banshees of Inisherin, which is a lot more than it appears on the surface, not to mention the fact that he’s one of modern Hollywood’s great gentlemen.

While accepting the Golden Globes award for Best Musical or Comedy Series, Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson couldn’t help but give a shoutout to Brad Pitt after she spotted him in the audience. During her emotional speech, in which she thanked everyone who helped make the hit ABC series a success, Brunson became noticeably starstruck at the sight of Pitt and even co-star Janelle James was surprised that he was just sitting right there.

You can see the adorable and now-viral moment below:

And if Brunson is feeling a little embarrassed, she shouldn’t be. Celebs getting starstruck by other celebs is a Golden Globes tradition as evidenced by the videos below:

The Brad Pitt shoutout also exploded on Twitter as tons of people found the reaction very relatable. Who wouldn’t have reacted the same way?

As for Brunson’s speech, Pitt wasn’t her only shoutout. (Although, his shoutout may have been the most enthusiastic one.) Brunson also made it a point to thank Henry Winkler, Bob Odenkirk, and Seth Rogen. Via PEOPLE:

“I created this show because I love comedy. There are so many people in the room tonight who are the reason why I’m here today. Not to be corny, but Henry Winkler you’re one of the reasons I’m here today because of watching you. Bob Odenkirk I know you’re in your drama bed now but Mr. Show made me want to make television. Seth [Rogen], I know you’re probably high, but from the heart, everything that you’ve ever made made me want to make comedy. Comedy is so important to me. Comedy brings people together.”

Of course, at that point, Brunson spotted Pitt but she quickly pulled it together and brought her speech in for a landing.

“This is my cast and I love them,” she said after rebounding from seeing Pitt. “I don’t know where I’d be without them. We get to make this show for everyone. During a very tough time in this country, I’m happy that Abbott Elementary is able to make so many people laugh.”

(Via PEOPLE)

Rapper Gunna is looking to reenter the public fold and its good graces since his incarceration last May. While detained, the musician remained optimistic despite having his request for a bond denied three times. However, that didn’t stop him from writing a letter to his loved ones calling 2022, “one of the best years of my life.”

Although the “Pushin P” rapper has been out of jail for weeks, he’s remained uncharacteristically quiet on social media until yesterday. Taking to Instagram, Gunna shared an image of himself inside of his lush home with the caption, “N****s acting like they switching to a side. But it’s only one side,” adding the hashtags #YslTheLabel #FreeThug&Yak to show his seeming advocacy for his label head, Young Thug who is still incarcerated and awaiting trial. The rapper closed the post with, “Gunna Bacc!”

Gunna’s return to social media didn’t stop there. The rapper also uploaded a message to Twitter, writing, “R.I.P Keed. I love you, and I miss you, twin.” Unfortunately, Lil Keed, a fellow YSL Records artist, passed away shortly after Gunna’s arrest.

People didn’t take too kindly to Gunna’s mention of Young Thug or Lil Keed, including Lil Gotit, Keed’s brother. So Lil Gotit posted a subtle response to Gunna’s post. In the first message, Gotit writes, “N****s got to stop the cap,” implying Gunna’s public show of support for Young Thug is all a facade. Then Gotit follows it up with, “Don’t call me twin,” confirming all ties have been severed.

Notorious rap troll Tekashi 6ix9ine left a comment echoing Lil Gotit’s sentiments, “In court, you said it was a gang. Here on Instagram, you’re saying the label. LOL, you can’t make this sh*t up.”

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

When the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago back in August 2022, it was a last-measure effort to collect more than 1,200 classified documents that Donald Trump reportedly took with him when he left the White House and refused to give back after being alerted that he was not allowed to have them. It’s a far cry from the 10 classified documents discovered in Joe Biden’s private office which — when discovered — were promptly returned to the National Archives. But don’t try telling a MAGA that!

On Tuesday night, Jimmy Kimmel shared a handful of clips from pro-Trump and/or anti-Biden robots like Fox News’ Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity, conspiracy theory loving congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, and devil’s spawn Donald Trump Jr., who refused to concede that the two situations were very different. As Kimmel explained:

[L]ast night CBS reported that Joe Biden left a handful of classified documents from when he was vice president in his private office at the University of Pennsylvania. The documents were discovered by his lawyers, they were packing up files, they found these documents, they contacted the National Archives, they reported what they found. There are said to be just under a dozen documents related to Ukraine, Iran, and the U.K. And for the MAGA crowd, this was like Christmas and the McRib coming back at the same time.

Don Jr., as usual, had the most unhinged response: The slurry son of the former president seemed to be taking his anger out on his phone when he asked, “Is the Justice Department going to send in the FBI? The FBI’s hostage rescue team?!”

Again, Don Jr. and all the rest of them — the same folks who defended Trump and his ability to simply declassify documents with his mind — seemed perfectly satisfied to put the two infractions on the same level. Despite them being wildly different. Though Kimmel also couldn’t help but wonder if Little Donnie’s manic slurring was possibly due to his wearing a retainer or… something?! “What’s going on with his teeth?,” Kimmel asked.

Of course, it didn’t take long for Trump himself to react to the situation. As Kimmel shared, the former president took to TRUTH Social to ask: “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified.”

“It’s like his dream come true,” said Kimmel, who added that: “It’s alarming when you realize how much our national security relies on old men keeping track of loose pages.” (He could have just ended that sentence at “old men.”

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 1:45 mark.

It may be a while before we hear Lil Yachty’s psychedelic Sonic Ranch album, due to the project falling victim to leaks last month, but that’s not keeping him from pursuing other ideas. Yesterday (January 10), the “Poland” rapper announced that he’s looking to form an all-women band.

“Yachty is putting a band together. I want an all-girls band,” he said in an Instagram post, noting he’s looking for two to three background singers, a guitar player, a bass player, a drummer, and a keyboard player. The post was captioned, “Tryouts for my band Thursday. Shall the most talented women please pull up… Let’s Meet! See U Soon Ladies.” It is also worth noting that this is currently the only post on his Instagram page, as his account appears to be cleared — a common practice for artists as they begin to tease new album eras.

It is unclear whether Yachty is wanting to put together the band as part of a new album, for a backing band for an upcoming tour, or for another purpose. However, in an interview with Icebox that took place over a year ago, he revealed that he wants his future projects to spawn from a different creative process.

“I’ve met all these amazing musicians and producers,” he said when speaking about his upcoming album. “It’s like a psychedelic alternative project. It’s different. It’s all live instrumentation. I’ve changed my dynamic. I’m telling you, this album and on, I’m creating music a whole lot differently.”