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Mayfair Witches is Alexandra Daddario’s long-overdue first lead role in a TV series, but she’s been popping up in other shows and movies for years. She got her big break in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief; indirectly showed President Obama her boobs on True Detective; and appeared in season one of The White Lotus. Daddario was also in 2017’s Baywatch, alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron, which “raised her profile,” she told the New York Times. But at what cost?

“Baywatch raised my profile and changed the kinds of jobs I was being offered, maybe not in a positive way,” she said. “But I’m glad I did it.”

Here’s what we wrote about Baywatch at the time: “Baywatch has no interest in satire or parody, just the occasional fourth wall-breaking for an easy joke. Likewise, it’s hard to tell whether the atrocious, quick cut, shaky-cam fight/action choreography is meant to parody the Bourne movies (which Efron’s character mentions at one point), or whether it’s just badly done.” But at least the cast had fun making it, or so we thought.

Mayfair Witches premieres on AMC (it’s the channel’s second show based on an Anne Rice novel after Interview with the Vampire) on January 8.

(Via the New York Times)

Maybe you have been going through life waiting for one pivotal moment to make everything worth it. Whether it be your dream job or buying a fancy new house, we are always waiting for something. And maybe, just maybe, that something is Alex Baldwin enlisting you on a very important mission to get his wife to 1 million Instagram followers. And now is the time for your big break.

The actor took to Instagram to ask everyone on Earth and the great beyond to give his American Wife Hilaria the gift of a follow. We all know Hilaria’s Instagram presence is a bit dicey, but hey, it’s her birthday and she wants 1 million people to be involved. It’s the least you could do, really, for this famous person who you have never met.

Baldwin began his pleading by joking about the date, which is….you know, a whole thing. “Hey everybody,” Baldwin began in a video. “It’s January 5th, the day before my wife’s birthday. It is my wife Hilaria’s birthday tomorrow January 6th. We don’t attach the same significance to January 6th as other people do. We just say it’s Hilaria’s birthday.” It’s also Norman Reedus’s birthday, but you don’t see him making a big stink about it.

He continued, “My wife is just, it seems like she’s just centimeters shy of 1 million followers on Instagram. And I would like to ask you, as a birthday gift, or even just [a] gesture to my wife, would you follow her on Instagram?” Well, would you? The yoga enthusiast currently sits at 996k followers.

Maybe that didn’t convince you, so here he is begging even more: “I would like as many of you as possible. I would like a really great, great, surge of you to follow my wife on Instagram to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to her. Would you do that for me? Would you follow my wife on Instagram? Please? Thanks.” He’s asking really nicely this time!

But maybe that didn’t convince you either, because Baldwin then uploaded a video featuring a few of his small army of children asking for fans to follow their mother. Will she make it to one million before midnight? Who knows! There’s always next year.

(Via Page Six)

Matt Gaetz stopped by Fox News after two days of Republicans failing to elect a Speaker of the House despite winning a majority following the midterm elections, and from the sound of things, this situation isn’t going to be resolved anytime soon. Gaetz has been lording over a small band of GOP members who have refused to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker despite McCarthy making concession after concession in a desperate bid to win votes. That refusal seemed to frustrate Laura Ingraham who grilled Gaetz shortly after he revealed that he’ll never for McCarthy “under any circumstance.”

“That’s personal then,” Ingraham said. “You just made this very principled point. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say ‘I’m a man of principal and I believe in X, Y and Z. But if he gives me X, Y and Z, I’m not gonna vote for him.’ What? How does that make sense?”

Ingraham then asked Gaetz what he would do if the Democrats help the Republicans elect a moderate candidate to put this thing to bed, which prompted the congressman to threaten us all with a great time. Via Mediaite:

No, listen. I’m on the floor, Laura. These 212 Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries every single time. He is a historic candidate for them. They are not going to cleave off under any circumstance. I assure you if Democrats join up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign from the House of Representatives. That is how certain I am. I can assure your viewers that won’t happen.

Is that legally binding? Can we get that in writing? Talk about a serious motivator to reach across the aisles. Democrats, are you seeing this?

(Via Mediaite)

Bratty is kicking off the new year with new music. Yesterday (January 5), the Mexican singer-songwriter released the alluring muisc video for “Continental” featuring Nsqk and Méne.

Bratty is bringing an alternative edge to Latin music. Bratty is the musical project of Jenny Juárez who grew up in Culiacán, Sinaloa. For “Continental,” Bratty teamed up with fellow Mexican acts Nsqk and Méne. Her love song is reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s music with a folk rock sound that you can dance to. In the dreamy track, she trades verses with Méne about a romance that feels otherworldly.

“In one of my sessions in Monterrey, I finally had the opportunity to meet Rodrigo and Luis (Nsqk and Méne),” Bratty said in a statement. “I had heard about their projects and I was intrigued since they are both young Mexican artists from the north. I love that the realization of this song is totally homemade. Rodrigo and I produced it and the three of us wrote the lyrics.”

“Continental” is one of the songs on Bratty’s upcoming release Es Mi Fiesta Y Si Quiero Hago Un EP. She previewed the EP last month with “¿Y Cómo?” featuring Spanish group Hinds. Bratty’s EP that’s coming soon features collaborations with Metronomy, Álvaro Díaz, Depresión Sonora, and Yawners.

The legal team for Alex Jones is still continuing to feel the effects of the InfoWars host’s devastating loss in court against the Sandy Hook families who successfully sued him for over a billion dollars in damages. On Thursday, Jones’ defense attorney, Norm Pattis, had his law license suspended for releasing the medical records of the Sandy Hook families. To be clear, this is not the same attorney that accidentally sent incriminating texts from Jones to the opposing counsel. This situation is an entirely different blunder of which there were many in the explosive trial.

“Simply put, given his experience, there is no acceptable excuse for his misconduct,” Judge Barbara Bellis said of Pattis in her court decision. Via NBC Connecticut:

“We cannot expect our system of justice or our attorneys to be perfect but we can expect fundamental fairness and decency. There was no fairness or decency in the treatment of the plaintiffs’ most sensitive and personal information, and no excuse for the respondent’s misconduct,” Bellis wrote.

Pattis told NBC Connecticut that he plans to appeal the decision, but he’s currently busy in Washington D.C. for the Proud Boy insurrection case.

The decision arrives after Jones was hit with even more damages in November for spewing lies about the Sandy Hook shooting. Jones routinely pushed conspiracy theories that the children and their families were crisis actors and reportedly made millions from his viewers, some of whom threatened and harassed the grieving families for years.

Jones eventually apologized for spreading the false theory, but it was too late. He was already staring down several lawsuits that ultimately cost him a small fortune.

(Via NBC Connecticut)

Wet Leg’s 2022 was nothing short of exciting. With their 2021 hit “Chaise Longue,” their success and hype only accumulated when their debut self-titled LP came out and they were brought on a tour with the one and only Harry Styles, who was arguably the biggest pop star of last year.

The reign of “Chaise Longue” is not over yet. The group handed the song over to Unknown Mortal Orchestra to put their own spin on it, and they did not hold back. The track is completely transformed into a psychedelic, distorted experience, having the texture of a noise-rock anthem. It hits — in a totally different way.

In our interview with Wet Leg, Rhian Teasdale explained her pronunciation of the piece of furniture: “You can hear the demo of ‘Chaise Longue,’ it’s on the B-side of the 7-inch that we put out,” she said. “That’s ‘Chaise Longue’ in its purest form, pretty much. I say ‘chaise longe,’ because that’s how I thought it was pronounced at the time. And then when we went into like the real studio, I thought I’d get my friend Google out and actually learn how to say it, and Google told me it was ‘chaise long.’ So that’s what we went for. Well, there in the States you say ‘chaise lounge.’”

Listen to Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s remix of “Chaise Longue” above.

As classes resume for the second season of Abbott Elementary, many fans are wondering whether or not a certain duo will get together after some “will they/won’t they” scenarios. After Janine and Tariq broke it off earlier this season, it seems like Gregory might swoop in, but that information is under lock and key at the moment.

Still, Lisa Anne Walter knows that it’s on everyone’s mind. “Everybody wants to know obviously about the romance,” Walter recently told Deadline. “I will say that there were a couple of interesting romantic moves that happen before the end of the season. I’m not going to say what, but I think the audience is going to be really happy. They’re just gonna be enthusiastic,” she added.

The actress then added that some fans have been correctly hinting and guessing that Janina and Gregorry would finally get together after a season and a half of speculation. “Last year, when people were saying, ‘What do you want to see happen?’ and I gave a scenario…that’s gonna happen and I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s coming up and I loved the episode. It was a big episode. I think it might be my favorite episode this season.”

Even though some things are spur-of-the-moment decisions, Walter says that Brunson has most of the series’ main plots pointed mapped out. “My joke is that when she sat down, she had five years planned. But not every little thing. They sit in the writer’s room and they break the story, and they come up with different things.” One of those things was securing a cameo from the most in-demand actor of our time: Gritty. And she did that! There’s no telling what else Brunson has up her sleeve.

Abbott Elementary airs Wednesdays on ABC.

(Via Deadline)

Next week, the State of Georgia v. Jeffery Lamar Williams (better known professionally as Young Thug) and YSL Enterprises, Inc. (or Young Stoner Life Records) RICO trial will begin. With each day that passes, more details about the case emerge, including Williams’ alleged witness list.

In May 2022, Williams and 29 other associates were indicted on 56 counts of criminal acts under the state’s RICO Act. However, now that several co-defendants have accepted plea deals, including fellow rapper and label signee Gunna, fans wondered what that would mean for Williams. Although social media users celebrated the prosecutor’s office dropping several dozen charges against Williams, he still faces nearly ten charges with potential 300 witnesses willing to testify against him.

Williams’ charges are as follows:

• one count of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act,
• possession of a firearm while committing a felony,
• possession of a machine gun,
• two counts of participating in criminal street activity,
• three counts of violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act,
• and one charge of street racing.

Young Thug’s trial for his RICO case is scheduled for Monday, January 9, 2023. The trial is expected to run for as long as six months.

Some of the artists mentioned are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last year, around this time, we got collaboration for a remix to BIBI’s hit single “The Weekend” with Milli. This year, 88rising does it again by linking up two of Asia’s finest artists for an unexpected collaboration. And this time, it’s an original track.

Hailing from Thailand, rapper and singer Milli links up with China’s Magic Man Jackson Wang for their track “Mind Games” under 88rising. Already building a rapport over the course of many Head In The Clouds festivals in the past, this collaboration between the two Asian acts was bound to happen at some point in their careers.

Released at midnight last night (January 6), the Thai rapping princess slows it down a notch from her hyped raps and gets sultry, flexing vocals and some falsettos. Playing herself in the music video, Milli is alluring and seductive as she becomes the only subject in Jackson’s mind. Singing back and forth at each other, Jackson has obviously fallen in love with her as he figuratively chases her in a maze.

Just last month, 88rising took their famous Head In The Clouds Festival to Asia, performing in cities they’ve never done before. On December 3 and 4, HITC made stops in Jakarta, Indonesia with the following Manila, Philippines days after (December 9 and 10).

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

It’s time to brush up on your movie theater etiquette because it sounds like we’ll be spending a lot of time sardined into cushy seats and inhaling the sweet fumes of stale popcorn in 2023.

What we’re trying to say is, there are a lot of movies are coming out this year. A lot of good movies too, the award-winning, box-office-smashing kind that consume our social media feeds and give us plenty to pick apart at the office watercooler, assuming those are still a thing. And what do we do when there are a lot of things to sort out? Well, we vote, and so we asked some of our critics to tell us which films they were most excited about in the new year, with some surprising results. So get out your calendars and then take a look at where we collectively stand on everything from sci-fi sequels to Scorsese-directed crime dramas, high-speed heists, plastic, fantastic origin stories, and a Nolan biopic of nuclear proportions.

Honorable mentions/others receiving votes: Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods, Asteroid City, Little Mermaid, Renfield, Creed III, 65, The Exorcist, No Hard Feelings, Challengers, MaXXXine

8. Magic Mike’s Last Dance

For too long, there has been an absence of horniness in cinema. But not for long: after taking a break for the raunchy sequel Magic Mike XXL, cinema master Stephen Soderbergh returns to the male stripper universe with Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Channing Tatum returns as the titular Magic Mike, who heads to London to lead a steamy show. By his side is a wealthy socialite played by the incomparable Salma Hayek. The trailer promises to leave you… very satisfied, to say the least, most appropriate thing. — Carrie Wittmer

7. (tie) Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan’s next masterwork, Oppenheimer, is centered on the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II and the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man responsible for the success of the Manhattan Project. Cillian Murphy stars as Oppenheimer while Emily Blunt plays his wife, Kitty. Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr. are also on-board, but there are honestly too many big names to list out. With Nolan in the director’s chair and the impressive cast, it’s safe to say that Oppenheimer has the potential to be one of 2023’s best films. — Wongo Okon

7. (tie) Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Scorsese ventures into new territory this year, bringing with him a handful of faithful collaborators to tell another true crime story, this time with Western roots. Based on a best-selling non-fiction book of the same name, Scorsese (along with long-time muses Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro) tackle the tragic murders of dozens of members of the Osage Nation at the hands of a covetous white landowner named William Hale (De Niro) in the 1920s — a years-long assassination plot that eventually led to the “birth” of the FBI. Jealous of the wealth the Osage People accumulated thanks to owning oil-rich land in Oklahoma, Hale and his family – including a nephew named Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) – orchestrated the killings of at least 20 wealthy Osage tribe members, corrupting police officers and bribing local politicians along the way. It’s a long, winding, and morally-bankrupt tale of greed, prejudice, and deadly entitlement – one that just might score Scorsese and company more Oscar noms. — Jessica Toomer

6. (tie) Cocaine Bear

Subtlety can be a wonderful thing, but also, I enjoy titles that tell you precisely what you’re gonna get, which is what’s happening here: a bear ate about 70 pounds of cocaine and then went on a murderous rampage. Clearly, this will be a masterpiece directed by Elizabeth Banks and featuring Ray Liotta in one of his final roles. And as the trailer shows us, the nice boy from Sweet Tooth (Christian Convery) drops an F-bomb. It will be chaos, I tell you.

Then there’s this: Margo Martindale gets snatched by the bear with no “apple pie” to be found. Justified fans, I am not referencing in a gratuitous way. This matters. Our own Brian Grubb previously laid it all out there: this film is based upon the same real-life story that inspired the Season 4 Drew Thompson arc of the Tim Olyphant show. But the story could be even better in this movie because (although Raylan Givens will not swagger out of the woods and shoot the bear) this story includes the bear. He ate cocaine, and he’s on fire. — Kimberly Ricci

6. (tie) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is not only the best Spider-Man movie — it’s arguably the best comic book movie ever made. (No pressure, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.) But based on everything we’ve seen so far, the sequel looks just as good as the original, if not better, because it has Daniel Kaluuya as Spider-Punk and dozens (hundreds?) of other Spider-People. Across the Spider-Verse will require more than one viewing to take them all in. But, like Into the Spider-Verse, multiple watches won’t be a chore; it’ll be a pleasure. — Josh Kurp

5. Fast X

It feels crazy that it took this franchise 10 movies to find a role for Jason Momoa. Jason Momoa is maybe the most “should be in the Fast & Furious movies” actor currently working in Hollywood. Everything about him screams it. The temptation here is to be angry about that, the thing where we all wasted so much time making these movies without him. The better reaction — the mature one — is to be thankful that it’s finally happening. Especially when you see Momoa describe his character (whose name is “Dante,” which is perfect) as “very sadistic and androgynous and he’s a bit of a peacock.” All of this in a franchise that just sent Ludacris and Tyrese to outer space in a NoS-fueled muscle car. Anything could happen. Dominic Toretto could be a senator by the end of the movie. That’s not an impossible outcome here. There’s something thrilling about that. — Brian Grubb

4. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One

The most frequently punctuated film franchise is back, and not a moment too soon. For the seventh Mission: Impossible movie, and the first since 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Tom Cruise performed the “most dangerous stunt” ever, which involves riding a motorcycle off a cliff. He’s basically Russell Crowe in Gladiator asking “are you not entertained?” except he’s 100 percent serious about wanting to entertain us with his life-or-death stunts. Also along for the ride (not the ride off the cliff, however) are returning favorites Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby, as well as newcomers Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Shea Whigham. Top Gun: Maverick was one of the biggest movies of 2022 — Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will hopefully be just as massive in 2023. — Josh Kurp

3. John Wick: Chapter 4

Keanu Reeves, man. I could stop there, but I cannot do so. Because Keanu is at the stage of his career where he could, you know, decide to focus on his “craft” or not do a million punches and kicks. Yet here he is, doing that better than anyone else. It’s kind of like Tom Cruise, but there’s a different vibe because Keanu is not inside an airplane with a parachute to save him if things go awry. Instead, he is throwing himself into hand-to-hand combat (while wearing a suit, no less) for our edification. He knows that we want this, and he delivers and happily so.

At this point, John Wick has slaughtered nearly a whole army of criminal underworld dudes, and the franchise has increasingly gone off the rails in the most glorious way possible. Again, this is happening on the strength of the Wick character (every fan knows this by now: do not f*ck with a man’s dog) and whatever he can grip in his bare hands. He’s gonna deal with ninjas and horse-bound gunfights and a new baddie played by Donnie Yen, who was certainly fated to appear in this franchise. And I have complete faith that Keanu would not be doing this movie if it doesn’t top the greatest scene of the franchise thus far: the busting-through-glass-boxes fight scene of Parabellum. I’m ready. I will watch this in IMAX, which is not something I say frequently. Give me the tick-tock and the swords and the rain-soaked battles and that sweet action choreography. Oh, and the mythology. That’s pretty neat. too. — Kimberly Ricci

2. Dune: Part Two

This was always Denis Villeneuve’s plan, to follow up his sub-woofed space opera with a part two that delved even deeper into the mythology and majesty of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel. Thankfully, despite simultaneous streaming platform premieres and Covid constraints, we got here. Here, of course, being the next installment in the story of Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides, an intergalactic messiah with luscious locks and a terrible destiny. With most of his family dead and his House destroyed, Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) must now partner up with the Fremen of Arrakis to defeat House Harkonnen and fulfill his prophesized destiny – which all sounds very grand and ridiculous. And that’s without even mentioning the whole “riding giant sandworms” bit. We’ve been promised more than a perfume-commercial-break of Zendaya this time around and some new characters played by the likes of Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Christopher Walken. Combine all that with Villeneuve’s passion for serious storytelling and Hans Zimmer’s bone-rattling, bass-heavy score, and this “sequel” will likely translate into one of the more awe-inspiring sci-fi epics of the year, not to mention, the decade. — Jessica Toomer

1. Barbie

Looming large over the year’s impressive line-up of blockbuster franchises is this maybe-meta exploration of conscious consumerism coated in neon-pink nostalgia about a children’s toy that’s become a cultural icon. Helmed by Greta Gerwig and starring a who’s-who lineup led by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, Barbie seems almost too smart for a premise that began by asking the simple question, “What if life in plastic wasn’t so fantastic after all?” With few plot details and only a Kubrickian-styled teaser to whet the appetite, we’re still questioning how this Mattel-funded fever dream might play out. Will Barbie be remembered in the pantheon of cinema as the highest-brow of art, a Truman Show-like musing on sentience and self-confidence? Will it be a gluttonous exercise in camp, an oversaturated acid trip of tongue-in-cheek humor that flops at the box office but finds life as a future cult favorite? Will it finally give Robbie the blockbuster star vehicle she deserves? Will it turn Gosling into 2023’s himbo of the year? Half the fun is in the wondering. — Jessica Toomer