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For her solo directorial debut, Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig was nominated for two Oscars. For her follow-up, Little Women, she was nominated for another Oscar. So, naturally, for her next film, the three-time Academy Award nominee is making a movie about Barbie.

But this is no ordinary movie about the Mattel doll that lives a fantastic life in plastic. This is a Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Will Ferrell, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, and Margot Robbie look-alike Emma Mackey, with a script from Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted fame). Let’s go party.

Warner Bros. released the first image from Barbie this week during CinemaCon. It shows Robbie in a 1960s-style outfit, complete with matching dress and polka dot headband, sitting in a pink Corvette. But where’s Gosling’s Ken? My guess: he’s stuffed in the trunk. Robbie did describe her goal with the movie as being “whatever you’re thinking, we’re going to give you something totally different — the thing you didn’t know you wanted,” and Barbie pulling a Goodfellas on her long-time boyfriend would count as “something totally different.” Honestly, I’ll be disappointed if this doesn’t happen now.

The reactions to the image are overwhelmingly positive:

Barbie opens on July 21, 2023.

Fame has its perks, but one drawback is that sometimes, people will go ahead and just make things up about you. For example, in recent days, a supposed Billie Eilish quote has been making the rounds online, crediting her with saying, “When I got rich, I started balling my eyes out. I wanted to be poor so I can relate to most of my fans. I still want to be broke and poor, it looks really fun and cute.”

Given that Eilish doesn’t typically say insensitive things like that, it would seem the quote is fake. Indeed, it is, as Eilish fans may remember it actually circulated, and was quickly debunked, last summer.

When the quote initially made the rounds last year, multiple publications (like Snopes, Reuters, and USA Today) fact-checked and confirmed it was not something Eilish ever said. Rather, it originated from a parody Twitter account posting fake news about Eilish. Finneas also confirmed the quote wasn’t real, tweeting at the time, “Fake obviously. Honestly I just wish they’d label this account satire like the onion or something. I have no problem with a joke as long as people know it’s a joke.”

As far as things that Eilish has actually said, she recently declared she wasn’t surprised when she didn’t win any of the seven 2022 Grammys for which she was nominated.

Last month, The Black Keys announced that their 11th studio album, Dropout Boogie, would be released on May 13th. The duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recorded Dropout Boogie at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studios in Nashville with a host of collaborators. While the album’s lead single, “Wild Child,” was released concurrently with the album announcement, the Akron, Ohio natives have wasted little time in introducing the world to the album’s next offering, “It Ain’t Over.”

A spirited tune with boom clap drums, a sweet guitar line, and distinct keys, “It Ain’t Over” is actually inspired by a special kind of organ. Carney mentioned in a tweet how his Uncle Ralph Carney (a decorated multi-instrumentalist himself, who played with Tom Waits, co-wrote the Bojack Horseman theme with his nephew, and passed away in 2017) helped inspire the sonic direction that The Black Keys took on the track.

“We built this song around an Optigan,” Carney said in his tweet. “Ralph Carney showed me way back in 1996 if you flipped the discs over they played in reverse. After the first two bars of this I flip it into reverse. Thanks uncle Ralph. Miss you.”

The Optigan (later known as an Orchestron) is an electronic keyboard that operates with sounds that are pre-programed on an optical disc. It’s a pretty cool machine and you can hear it all throughout the new track.

Listen to “It Ain’t Over” above.

Dropout Boogie is out 5/13 via Nonesuch Records. Pre-order it here.

The Black Keys is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Back in 2016, The Range’s James Hinton released one of the most creative electronic albums of the year in Potential. Hinton presented IDM-leaning productions, cut with spliced in sounds of internet clips that spoke to him, sometimes haunted him, and just plain piqued his imagination. That was six years ago and Hinton relocated from Brooklyn to Vermont’s Green Mountains, seeking creative isolation before he knew that the world was about to offer him a heavy dose of that. Come June 10th, Hinton will finally put out the next album from The Range in Mercury, and it follows a distinct conceptual path for his surreal, dreamy soundscapes.

On “Urethane,” the album’s latest single, Hinton rides a sample from “Ice Rink,” by UK grime rapper MIK, a track that originally appeared on a 2015 compilation by British independent label Chip Butty Records. The track has grime, footwork and even hardcore rave vibes, but it’s the lyricism that inspired Hinton.

“The lyrics ‘last year man got left in the dark — ’cause man didn’t really have nothing to say’ hit me hard as I was feeling pretty left out and forgotten,” Hinton said in a statement. “I had moved from the thick of it in Brooklyn to rural Vermont, and in late winter 2019 and I felt like I had a mutually agreed upon separation from the world. Those lyrics were defiant to me and I liked that as a way of fighting back against that feeling.”

The video for the track directed by Stevie Gee and Essy May features animation reminiscent of the classic Johnny Quest cartoon. Hinton explained that it speaks to the album’s title and how the clip’s story arc presents mercury as the most valuable commodity in the world. The characters are pitted against an err…mercurial antagonist and their triumph is highlighted by what Hinton describes as “the ever-changing form that mercury can take, flowing, moving and morphing… as well as themes of change, decay, growth and rebirth.”

Watch the video for “Urethane” above and check out the album artwork and tracklist for Mercury below.

1. “Bicameral”
2. “1995”
3. “Urethane”
4. “Ricercar”
5. “Not For Me”
6. “Relegate”
7. “A Tree Day”
8. “Balm”
9. “Cantor”
10. “Every Good Thing”
11. “Violet”

Mercury is out 6/10 via Domino Records. Pre-order it here.

The Phoenix Suns found themselves in an unexpected position heading into Game 5 tied at 2-2 with the Pelicans, struggling to separate themselves from the West’s 8-seed with Devin Booker sidelined with a hamstring injury.

On Wednesday night, it was their veteran leader in Chris Paul who came out and set the tone early, hitting six of his first eight shots in the first half to help push the Suns to a double-digit advantage early on.

Around Paul, the other Suns, who had been cold from three all series, warmed up and Phoenix was able to dart out to a 13-point advantage at the half, one that would’ve been larger had it not been for the efforts of Brandon Ingram on the other side.

In the second half, Paul cooled off but the Suns were still able to extend their lead thanks to a takeover from Mikal Bridges, who caught fire from three and also provided his usual spectacular defense on the other end.

The Suns took a 17-point lead in the third quarter, but New Orleans once again refused to go away, chipping that down to an 11-point deficit at the end of the quarter behind Ingram’s continued shot-making and some timely buckets from Jonas Valanciunas and Larry Nance Jr.

Early in the fourth quarter, it was more of the Mikal Bridges show, as Phoenix once again started the quarter strong, pushing their lead up to 13 with eight minutes to go.

However, as has been the case all series, the Pelicans would not simply fade away after a Suns run, and like in Game 4, rookie Jose Alvarado provided a key boost in helping cut the lead down to as few as seven midway through the quarter with a three, a tough finish at the rim, and his second 8-second violation forced against Chris Paul.

However, the Pelicans could never fully reel the Suns in, as Phoenix had an answer every time they got within seven. Whether it was a Paul midrange jumper or this Cam Johnson dunk in semi-transition, New Orleans was unable to get the requisite stops to pull off another comeback win.

It was an encouraging game for a few reasons for the Suns, none bigger than seeing Mikal Bridges find his form offensively after a rough go of it in the first four games. Bridges finished with 31 points (a new playoff career-high), five rebounds, four blocks, and three steals, punctuating the win with a pair of dunks in the final minute to get the Phoenix crowd on its feet.

Chris Paul finished with 22 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, and three steals, bouncing back from a 4-point outing in Game 4 and giving Phoenix the steadying presence early on they needed to settle in to a pivotal game. Deandre Ayton likewise had a strong start with a 10-point first quarter and finished with 19 and nine rebounds, as he continues to do battle inside with Jonas Valanciunas (17 points and 14 rebounds).

For the Pelicans, Ingram had 22 points, five assists, and five rebounds, but could not find his stroke down the stretch as Bridges bothered him with his length. CJ McCollum had 21 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, but likewise struggled with efficiency, needing 22 shots for those 21 points. As the series shifts back to New Orleans for Game 6, the Pelicans will hope being back at home can settle the nerves early, while the Suns will look to sustain four quarters of strong play on the road this time after feeling like they gave one away in Game 4.

Mike Lindell is running low on allies. While the MyPillow mogul was riding high back in early 2021, hanging out at the White House in an attempt to help outgoing president Donald Trump hang onto his desk in the Oval Office, no one seems all that interested in Lindell anymore—especially since he was slapped with a $1.3 billion lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems a year ago. Enter Steve Bannon: Trump’s former campaign manager has been happy to give Lindell a platform to air his many grievances and grudges, and it’s made for some pretty quotable content.

Most recently, as Raw Story reports, Bannon invited Lindell onto his “War Room” podcast, where the pillow man laid into Newsmax, Fox News, and other right-wing media outlets for ignoring his latest crusade: ridding the country of its voting machines.

“Since Friday, since this case dropped, the left media is the ones that have picked it up!,” Lindell told Bannon. “You have Business Insider, Newsweek, these guys did articles. Where’s Fox News? Where are they to report this?”

While the fact that the mainstream media (hello!) seems more interested in covering Lindell’s increasingly wacky lawsuits more for the entertainment value seems lost on him, Bannon seemed to be having some fun by pushing the matter. When he asked Lindell what reason outlets like Fox News and Newsmax would have for not covering his latest lawsuit, his answer was simple:

“Fox, I believe they’re just traitors to the country. And I believe Newsmax are cowards. Simple as that—cowards and traitors, cowards and traitors.”

You can watch Lindell and Bannon’s interview above.

(Via Raw Story)

For the majority of three hours, Tuesday night’s matchup between the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers was relatively normal. The Twins led most of the night after three early runs generated by Max Kepler, and the Tigers took the advantage on a three-run bomb from Javier Baez in the eighth inning. With Minnesota playing at home at Target Field, however, the Tigers had to secure three outs in the bottom of the ninth frame, and that is where the madness began.

After two walks to open the inning, Kepler was retired, bringing Miguel Sano to the plate. From there, one of the more chaotic final plays of a baseball game that you will ever see commenced.

First, the ball was smoked by Sano, but Tigers right fielder Robbie Grossman certainly had a play on the ball that would’ve given the Tigers a valuable second out in the inning. The ball caromed over his head, though, and that seemingly created a bases loaded situation for Minnesota. Then, the Tigers essentially did everything wrong, botching a potential rundown and finally losing the game when catcher Eric Haase flipped the ball into left field, allowing two runners to score.

It was mania.

With the victory, the Twins improve to 9-8 on the season, while the Tigers slip to 6-10. There is, of course, no guarantee that Detroit would’ve wiggled out of a bases loaded jam if chaos didn’t occur, but this is one for the ages, and the Twins will take it.

Memphis and Minnesota entered Tuesday night having gone back-and-forth for four games, trading haymakers in a wild first round series. Game 5 was no different as Memphis jumped out to a quick 13-2 lead, only to trail by three after the first quarter. Minnesota then took a 10-point lead, with the Grizzlies clawing back to trail by just two at the half.

The Timberwolves then seized control in the third quarter, leading by 13 late, before Ja Morant woke up the Memphis crowd with a massive dunk that was a harbinger of things to come.

The Wolves would still maintain control with seven minutes to play, leading by 11, but went scoreless for two and a half minutes to allow the Grizzlies to cut the lead to one with 4:36 to play. The two teams would trade buckets from there, with Karl-Anthony Towns pushing Minnesota’s lead back up to four with a huge three with just under two minutes to play.

Despite Towns being the leading scorer for Minnesota on the night, that was his first shot since there were over six minutes to play (and would be his last shot of the night) as the Wolves went away from their big man late. After a pair of Morant free throws, Anthony Edwards missed a pull-up jumper and Memphis pushed it up the floor for a Tyus Jones three that got tapped back out by Brandon Clarke right to Morant, who picked the right time to hit his first three of the night, giving Memphis a one-point lead.

Throughout the closing stretch, the Timberwolves struggled in their halfcourt offense, as Edwards and D’Angelo Russell got iso-happy and failed to create good looks for themselves or others, missing a number of contested jumpers. After Morant’s three to take the lead, Russell pulled up and missed the rim on an elbow shot after pulling it back in a 5-on-4 situation, which Memphis rebounded quickly and got to Morant for free throws. He drilled both and this time Chris Finch used Minnesota’s final timeout to draw up a gorgeous play to set up Edwards on a catch-and-shoot three from the corner, freeing him with a backscreen on Morant who got caught ball-watching.

The Grizzlies called timeout and to the surprise of no one, called Morant’s number with 3.7 seconds to play. Somehow, Edwards played Morant top side and tried to get a steal, allowing Morant a free run at the rim where he hit a scooping lefty layup around a late contest to beat the buzzer and give Memphis the win.

Morant finished the night with 30 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists, taking over down the stretch and turning around what had been a fairly rough performance in the final 13 minutes of action. The star of the game for Memphis beyond Morant was undoubtedly Brandon Clarke, who gave them 21 points and an outrageous 15 rebounds off the bench, nine of which came on the offensive end to continuously give the Grizzlies second-chance opportunities — Desmond Bane also had 25 points providing his usual steady scoring touch from the perimeter.

On the Timberwolves side, Towns was terrific with 28 points and 12 rebounds, but did have seven turnovers and five fouls as he continues to find himself in foul trouble. Edwards had 22 points but needed 20 shots to get there, and seemed to be pressing trying to put the game away late rather than running actual offensive sets. Russell had 12 points and eight assists, and fell into some of the same trappings late as Edwards, as Minnesota’s offense fell flat at the worst possible time — a theme of their losses this series.

Now the series heads back to Minneapolis where the Wolves will need a win to force a Game 7 in a series that has featured some wild swings from game-to-game and even quarter-to-quarter.

Just hours before Game 5 between the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat on Tuesday, word broke that Heat star Jimmy Butler would be unavailable to play due to a knee issue. His absence immediately changed the calculus for a Heat team aiming to close out the series in five games but, after a hard-fought battle, Miami was able to secure the win that earned them almost a week off. The Heat held on for a 97-94 win over the Hawks, eliminating Atlanta and providing a ticket to the ticket round for Miami.

Playing without Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was also a late scratch in the game, the Hawks needed help on the wing, and Kevin Huerter provided it in the early going. Huerter scored seven of the first nine points for Atlanta, giving the visitors an early lead.

Miami responded in kind, using a 12-2 run to take their first advantage on the scoreboard. Victor Oladipo, who started in place of Butler, scored eight points on his first four shots and gave the Heat a boost.

For the most part, however, the first half was a slog for both offenses. In the first quarter, Atlanta and Miami combined to shoot 1-of-15 from three-point range, and that kind of ugliness persisted for most of the second quarter as well. There was a notable stretch in which the Hawks made back-to-back threes, and that gave Atlanta its largest lead of six.

Nate McMillan’s team led 40-39 with less than three minutes to go in the first half, and all seemed to be solid for the Hawks. That ended with haste, though, and it began with a hideous sequence out of a timeout that featured back-to-back turnovers in the backcourt.

Things continued to spiral from there for Atlanta, as Miami racked up a 15-0 run in less than two minutes. The Heat finally were able to make a couple of jump shots along the way, and Miami rode that wave to a 12-point halftime lead despite an uneven offensive showing.

Just in time, the Hawks put together an 8-0 run to start the third quarter. De’Andre Hunter was a big factor offensively for Atlanta, with 15 points by the middle of the third quarter.

Miami did stabilize things midway through the third quarter, with Atlanta’s offense hemorrhaging. The Heat used a 7-0 run to reclaim a double-digit lead, and Atlanta scored only two points in more than seven minutes.

If anything, the Heat might have been kicking themselves late in the third quarter, as they took only an 11-point lead to the closing period. That became even more clear when the Hawks used a mini-spurt from Hunter and a 12-4 run to climb within 79-76 with more than eight minutes remaining.

Miami slowly built its lead back to relative comfort at 92-82 with fewer than five minutes remaining, but Hunter continued to cook for Atlanta. The third-year forward exposed Miami’s wing defense in the absence of Butler, scoring six points on three possessions to bring the Hawks back within 92-86 with 3:38 to go. The Heat continued to scuffle on offense as well, scoring only two points in the final 3:30 of the game and attempting to hold on for dear life.

With Miami leading by three points in the final seconds, the Hawks had one final chance to tie it and extend their season, but Atlanta failed to get a shot off in bizarre fashion.

Playing without their leader in Butler and another key piece in Lowry, the Heat certainly struggled at times on offense, shooting just 7-of-31 from three-point range and scoring less than 1.1 points per possession against a shaky Hawks defense. Miami did enough to escape, however, and Oladipo produced 23 points in an expanded role.

With that said, the story of the game, and the series, was Miami’s defense against the high-powered Hawks offense. Atlanta was never able to find a cure for Miami’s pressure, and the Heat flummoxed Trae Young from wire-to-wire in the five-game set. Young scored 11 points on 2-of-12 shooting in Game 5, and averaged only 15.4 points per game in the series. On the positive side for Atlanta in Game 5 was Hunter, who erupted for a playoff career-high 35 points and 11 rebounds.

The Heat will now face the winner of the first round matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors. That series will begin on Monday, May 2, with the top-seeded Heat boasting home-court advantage beginning in Game 1.

Mainstream cinema has been short on sex for so long that when a movie promises characters going at it, people lose their minds. It happened with Deep Water, starring former real-life couple Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. And it’s happening again with Don’t Worry Darling, director Olivia Wilde’s follow-up to Booksmart, in which her real-life boyfriend Harry Styles gets hot and heavy with the beloved Florence Pugh.

The first look at the film, a psychological thriller set in the 1950s, bowed back in the fall, as well as promises from Wilde that it won’t hold back on “good sex.” There was more at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Only a couple tantalizing still images have been made available to the public so far, but those at the convention got to see a trailer that sounded not-safe-for-work. Pugh plays the wife of Styles’ company man, who she suspects of hiding secrets. “I don’t trust him, and I don’t want to be here anymore,” she reportedly says in the trailer.

But that doesn’t stop the two from reportedly knocking boots in the trailer itself. The Wrap reports that two share a sex on a dining room table. Variety claimed there’s another roundelay on a sink, adding that the teaser features Styles going downtown on his onscreen lady love.

Again and alas, the trailer has yet to be made public. But word of an actual sexy movie, featuring two sexy performers, caused a thirst meltdown on social media.

Anyway, advertising works by creating something consumers need. And it sounds like a lot of consumers now need a movie by the director of Booksmart in which her boyfriend gets busy with the star of Midsommar. Don’t Worry Darling doesn’t open until September 23, 2022.

(Via The Wrap and Variety)