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Back in January, during Sundance (which was, once again, virtual only for the second year in a row), I got a text from a friend of mine telling me I had to watch Brian and Charles before the festival ended. I, in turn, texted back, “What’s that?” He then sold me on the movie in one sentence, “It’s about an inventor who invents things that don’t work, but then accidentally invents a robot with actual artificial intelligence.” Alright, I’m in. I watched Brian and Charles. So late, in fact, that we had already done our site’s “best movies of Sundance” list, which is why I didn’t get to include Brian and Charles, or I certainly would have. Anyway, I was smitten. It’s the kind of movie that, if the festival had been in person, it would have gotten the word of mouth bump. But now, it was relegated to word of text message.

Brian (David Earl) is that said inventor, who has played this character on a stage show and in a short film, but as director Jim Archer says ahead, the character in the feature film is far less crude. Here, he’s incredibly sweet. And by the time Brian invents Charles (Chris Hayward) out of a mannequin head and an old washing machine (who gives himself the last name Petrescu, and it’s never not funny when Charles says, “I’m Charles Petrescu,” and he says this a lot), we, the audience, are just so happy Brian finally has a friend. Of course, local town bullies take notice of Charles Petrescu.

Being released by Focus Features in theaters, Archer doesn’t know what to expect really. It seems like he just hopes enough people see it, tell their friends, then someday it becomes enough of a cult classic where they can make another one. Or, as he suggests, maybe they can put Paddington in the movie then people will see it. (But, seriously, if you have a chance to see Brian and Charles, you will love Brian and Charles.)

This feels like a true word-of-mouth movie. The only reason I saw it is because during virtual Sundance a friend texted me and said I’d like this.

I mean, I think that’s basically our marketing campaign from now on. Some people see it and then some people say it’s good. Folks do an amazing job. But we’re still a low-budget thing so I think word of mouth is the key.

I didn’t expect to feel so emotionally connected to Charles Petrescu. First of all, where does that last name come from?

Well, Petrescu actually, do you know what? The original thing, I think it’s probably just because it’s funny.

It is a funny name for a robot. Every time he says it I laughed.

Yeah. And I like that. I like that he just literally comes up with it on the fly. But if you pause the film at the right moment, there is one of the books on the shelves is by someone Petrescu. We have printed and put something in there. I think it’s just funny. It’s funny that he gives himself some sort of Eastern European surname for no reason.

Was the look of Charles difficult? Because I feel there’s a fine line between Charles looking grotesque and Charles looking too funny. Because you want to hit that sweet spot where people feel empathy towards him.

Yeah, exactly. I think he is a very kind of blank slate, which works for that. I mean, he is actually, weirdly, he’s quite handsome. This sort of mannequin head. It’s a real mannequin’s head so it’s got all the high cheekbones and stuff like that. But we just sort of made him into this old man thing. And I think the first version of him, the one that we did for the short, was slightly more janky and a bit probably more on the side of scary. So when we did the film version, we slightly wanted to give it a bit more logic, and make the eye metal, and make him look more like he’s been built from a washing machine.

The concept is easy to pitch to people: “This inventor who invents things that don’t work accidentally invents artificial life.”

“It’s a park full of dinosaurs that come to life.” Okay. I’m in.

Yeah, that one did really well.

Yeah, I’ve heard of it.

That should be your new line. “We are the new Jurassic Park.”

Yeah, exactly. I think that sounds like a slightly different version of the film we could have made.

What are you hoping for, release-wise, with the release date? As we were saying, it’s the kind of movie that needs people to see it, then tell someone.

I don’t know. I don’t know. This is my first film and so this is my first experience of all this stuff. You’re right, though. I think it’ll be a slow open, and hopefully people will see it and like it and tell their friends to watch it. But I think it will still be… it’ll be a slow burn. Or it’ll just fizzle out and its life will be beyond that. Maybe it’ll be a cult film in a year’s time. Or maybe it’ll live on on-demand. Who knows? But hopefully, everyone goes to the cinemas to it.

I know there’s a short film. But how does this come to fruition?

I sort of got involved halfway through. But it existed, David Earl was doing the character of Brian Gittins as a live comedy act. Since 2006 or something. And then there was a radio show where Rupert did a call-in with the voice of Charles, so that started to do a thing. And then Chris listened to that and was like, Oh, maybe I’ll build the robot and we’ll do this as a live act. And then I came involved when they’re like, we want to make a short film. The live act is kind of crude and big and completely chaotic.

And this movie is very sweet and not crude.

Do you know what? I think just when translating that to cinema, you want people to engage with the characters most. And to do that, you just need to find the heart. And just treat everything super seriously and cinematically. And suddenly, you take these characters that are in this chaotic, weird universe on live comedy stages and then be like, right, let’s make them as real as we can.

If these characters are crude, maybe I’m not feeling as bad for them when they’re being picked on by the bullies.

Exactly. Yeah, it just doesn’t work.

Let this man have his friend that he built.

Exactly. When we are doing Brian, we were like this is our version of Brian, not the stage version. We even softened his voice a little bit.

I would watch more movies with Brian and Charles.

Well, we are up for it. I think it requires this film to do well which is… It’s not Paddington. It’s a low-budget, British feature, so we’ll see. If it does well, maybe there will be more. Although maybe there will be a TV show? Who knows?

Paddington fans should see this. “You’ll like this thing just as much. The fun bear and Charles are the same thing.”

So I’m seeing Charles pop up in the Paddington universe…

Now you’re thinking. That’s the future, here. Get Charles and Paddington together.

Yeah, I’ll call Paul King and see what he says.

‘Brian And Charles’ opens in theaters this weekend. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

In another crushing financial blow, Mike Lindell has revealed that Walmart won’t sell MyPillow products anymore. Lindell disclosed the news in a rambling Facebook video where he accused the retail giant of “cancel talk.” According to the crazed MyPillow CEO, Walmart’s decision is a whopping $100 million loss in wholesale sales, which arrives on the heel of Lindell disclosing that he’s dropped at least $30 million of his own money in his election fraud crusade. Lindell has vowed to go down in flames proving that the election was stolen from Donald Trump, and he just might get his wish.

As for what made Walmart pull the plug, Lindell has had trouble getting a straight answer thanks to executives ignoring him, which only further angered the hot-tempered CEO. Via New York Daily News:

Initially, according to Lindell, he was told sales had “fatigued” which is why the retail giants moved his product out of a highly visible “As Seen On TV” section. Now, the store will stop selling MyPillow products altogether. The 60-year-old Minnesota native said that after some back and forth, he got an executive vice president who was “kind of ignoring me” on a video conference call.

According to Lindell, Walmart claims his products no longer meet a satisfactory customer rating. Lindell blames “bots and trolls” for trying to shut him down by posting fake reviews. However, he didn’t help his case by losing his cool and blasting Walmart for selling “China pillows.” He also accused the retail giant of being “liars.”

“You’re a liar, liars and you’re liars, just like people on that January 6 committee,” Lindell ranted.

(Via New York Daily News)

A couple of days ago, Foo Fighters announced tribute shows in honor of their drummer Taylor Hawkins, who tragically passed in March. One will take place at London’s Wembley Stadium on September 3rd, and the other at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on September 27th. New guests have just been announced.

In Los Angeles, the artists added to the roster are Pink, LeAnn Rimes, John Paul Jones, Alain Johannes, Nancy Wilson, Krist Novoselic, and Greg Kurstin. In London, the additions are John Paul Jones, Alain Johannes, Nandi Bushell, Nile Rodgers, Krist Novoselic, Greg Kurstin, and a special appearance by Chris Rock.

Already-announced guests for Los Angeles are Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett, Chris Chaney of Jane’s Addiction, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Alanis Morissette, Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Luke Spiller of The Struts, The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine, Mark Ronson, and an appearance by Hawkins’ cover band Chevy Metal.

For London: Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush, Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, Mark Ronson, Oasis’ Liam Gallagher, former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, Chris Chaney of Jane’s Addiction, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Wolfgang Van Halen, members of Hawkins’ cover band Chevy Metal, Supergrass, drummer Omar Hakim, and a special appearance from Dave Chappelle.

Ted Cruz lives a charmed life. Instead of worrying about the stuff that keeps normal people up at night, like paying the bills or if his co-workers like him (he clearly doesn’t care about that), he frets about “Mickey and Pluto going at it” and “lesbian toys.”

Following his recent (and “pervy”) “Woke Disney” comments, the Texas senator took to his podcast to discuss the new Pixar movie, Lightyear. Cruz apparently hasn’t seen it, but he’s read the headlines about two female characters kissing, which is enough for him to turn into a live-action Helen Lovejoy. Thank god he didn’t do that impression.

“These lunatics, they want to see Mickey and Pluto going at it. And the press lost their mind, and then what do they do? Boom! The next movie they come out, Buzz Lightyear. What do we need? We need lesbian toys,” Cruz whined. “Now, never mind that the last time I checked, most toys are kinda androgynous. They are usually without genitalia…”

He continued:

“I gotta say, it’s a wild twist where Hollywood has been willing to grovel to China and let China censor its movies, to embrace anti-Americanism, to avoid any criticism of China because they want to get access to the Chinese movie market. But when it comes to their culture agenda, apparently now they’ve suddenly discovered, ‘Alright, give up the money because lesbian toys are more important.’ And I must say, it brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, to infinity and beyond!”

Sigh.

First off, and I realize this is besides the point, but the same-sex couple in Lightyear — Alisha and her wife — aren’t toys; that’s the entire point of the movie (someone hasn’t read Chris Evans’ tweet). Also, where was this “androgynous” concern over Woody and Bo Peep or Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head? And don’t even get Ted started on Andy’s mother raising children without a strong father figure in the house.

Cruz needs to go back to doing what he does best: feuding with the stars of his favorite movies, who hate him.

A little over seven months after the passing of fashion designer Virgil Abloh, his global impact is still making itself known. Virgil’s influence is all over Drake’s new surprise album Honestly, Nevermind and in Spotify’s new documentary short film about Kendrick Lamar, the Compton rapper learns just how well-known Abloh was on his first trip to Ghana. Visiting a skate park in Accra, Kendrick reveals he’s been chatting with the local kids about the late designer, discussing “what he means to them, as far as letting them have this creative space to enjoy themselves.”

The park was opened in December, just after Virgil’s passing, with support from Off-White, Abloh’s own brand, Daily Paper, and Surf Ghana. At the time of the opening, Daily Paper co-founder Jefferson Osei said in a statement, “With this initiative, we hope to evolve the skate culture in Ghana to the next level and give locals a platform to grow their talents within a space that will hopefully become their biggest training ground to date. More than board sports, the park will be a creative hub for young Ghanaians to come together, exchange ideas, inspire each other, and build their futures through recreational activities. They now have a place where they can be themselves, freely develop their skills together with like-minded people, and reach their true potential. Hence the name, Freedom Skate Park.”

Kendrick also discussed his favorite lines from his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, explaining why a line about going to therapy resonates with him. “We learn to hold all our sh*t in,” he admits. “That wasn’t my forte when people mentioned it to me. I’m still stuck how my pops thinks: ‘F*ck I need therapy for?’” He also allows, though, that going would represent “growth” and seems more open to the idea than he initially lets on.

You can watch the mini-doc “A Day In Ghana With Kendrick Lamar” above.

Earlier this month, Justin Bieber postponed some concerts due to an undisclosed illness. A few days later, he revealed he was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which has left one side of his face paralyzed. That was clear in the video Bieber shared revealing the news, as the movements of his eyes were out of sync and he was talking out of one side of his mouth.

Now, the condition has forced Bieber to postpone all of the North American concerts he had scheduled for June and July.

In a statement, Bieber’s tour promoter AEG Presents wrote, “In light of Justin’s ongoing recovery, the remaining US Justice Tour shows scheduled for June and early July, including at Summerfest at the @amfamamp in Milwaukee, WI on Friday, June 24, 2022 will be postponed. Justin continues to receive the best medical care possible, is upbeat about his recovery, and is looking forward to getting back out on the road and performing for his fans overseas later this summer.”

Currently, Bieber’s website only lists upcoming tour dates for Europe, the UK, and others parts of the world that aren’t North America. His next scheduled concert is on July 31 in Lucca, Italy.

A few days ago, Bieber offered an update on how he’s doing, writing in an Instagram Story that “each day has gotten better.”

Despite Elon Musk‘s frequent claims of being a “free speech absolutist,” several SpaceX employees have been fired after writing an open letter calling him an “embarrassment” to the company. For the past few months, Musk has tanked both the stock of Tesla and Twitter in pursuit of his acquisition of the latter, and SpaceX employees feel his constant trolling reflects poorly on their hardwork. There’s also the alleged sexual harassment of a SpaceX flight attendant, which was also cited in the letter.

The writers, who have been terminated for sharing the document in the company’s internal chat system, implored SpaceX to live up to its “No Asshole” policy and it’s “zero tolerance sexual harassment policy.” Via The Verge:

“Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” the letter states. “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.”

Following its publication, several employees involved in the drafting of the letter were fired by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. “The letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views,” Shotwell wrote in a company-wide email. “We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism.”

The chilling termination of his critics flies in the face of Musk’s constant proclamations that he loves free speech. His entire pursuit of Twitter has been hinged on ridding it of censorship, which has resulted in Musk firing off tweets that have, clearly, not aged well.

“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk wrote back in April.

(Via The Verge)

Drake has been busy over the past 24 hours, most notably with the announcement and then quick release of his new album, Honestly, Nevermind, as well as a video for “Falling Back.” That’s not all, though, as last night also saw the premiere episode of Table For One, his new radio show on SiriusXM.

The episode aired at 11 p.m. ET, just before the release of Honestly, Nevermind. On the show, though, he was already talking about what’s coming next, saying, “Me and Kenzo have a book coming out this year. Yeah, we have a book coming out this year, a poetry book. So I hope you guys tune into that, too, because that’s going to be some sh*t.”

Immediately after that, he made another reveal, adding, “I got another Scary Hours pack coming, too, in a little bit. Maybe not, like [laughs]… maybe not right now; I need you to just take this [Honestly, Nevermind] in right now. But I have a Scary Hours, I’m gonna slap some head tops off with a Scary Hours pack.”

He also spoke about Honestly, Nevermind, saying, “I’m about to play you an album that means the world to me. It took us about six, seven months to make, maybe. Something that I always wanted to do. I don’t really want to over-explain it, I just want to play it because it’s just a bunch of music that I love.”

Indiecast hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen oftentimes reflect on formative albums from their younger days, but what year definitively had the best music? In this week’s episode, Steven and Ian answer fan questions about the greatest year for music (spoiler alert: it’s not 2022), which albums have impeccable tracklists (Radiohead, we’re looking at you), and their picks for the dream festival lineup (several pre-2000s artists make the cut).

Along with answering fan emails, Steven and Ian talked about some of the more ludicrous indie news from this week. Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo officially came out as a furry in a recent interview, a fact that has been fairly out in the open for some time now. Ariel Pink had one of his first big interviews after being canceled for attending the January 6th D.C. riots, and it was in the Jewish magazine Tablet. They also shout-out Ian’s recent interview with Bartees Strange, whose new album Farm To Table dropped today.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 93 below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

On Game of Thrones, Arya Stark kept a list of everyone she wanted to kill. Millie Bobby Brown wishes the creators of Stranger Things, arguably the biggest genre show since Thrones, would do the same thing. “The Duffer Brothers are sensitive sallies who don’t want to kill anybody off. We need to have the mindset of Game of Thrones. Kill me off! They tried killing David [Harbour] off and they brought him back!” the actress said ahead of the season four premiere. She also talked about how the show’s cast is “too big. Last night we couldn’t even take one group picture because there was like 50 of us.”

It sounds like Eleven is going to get her (death) wish.

Noah Schnapp, who plays Will Byers, was the guest on Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Show, where he talked about his reputation as “the Tom Holland of Stranger Things, because you spoil everything,” as host Jimmy Fallon put it. “I literally just realized this today,” Schanpp said. “I posted stuff on my Instagram of, like, an explosion or something and it’s from the second volume and people were, like, ‘Are you — is this a spoiler?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to get in trouble.’ So I literally just took it down.”

Speaking of spoilers, Schnapp teased what to expect from the second volume of Stranger Things season four, which returns on July 1. “You can expect from volume two, we’ve got some deaths coming, some gore, and a big…” Fallon then cut his guest off. “Wow, that’s a big spoiler. Dude, you just said something that you can’t say!” he said, to which Schnapp replied, “No, but I didn’t say who.” Touché. As long as it’s not Dustin, Steve, or Robin, let the bloodbath begin.

You can watch The Tonight Show clip above.