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By now, you’re well aware that countless movies saw their release dates evaporate as the pandemic fully unfurled. Jared Leto as Morbius even broke the most-delayed record (a status that no film wants to have), but he will finally vamp out in theaters on April 1. In the case of Mission: Impossible 7, though, the original 2021 release date got bumped a few times and landed in September 2022. This decision went down even after Tom Cruise went on a profanity-laden tirade over people not following Covid-19 protocols.

In that rant, Tom lectured the crew about how the future of the movie business was in their hands, and the Hollywood Reporter (in a feature-length piece) detailed Tom’s ongoing battles while making this Paramount Pictures blockbuster in such fraught conditions. It’s a fascinating article (if a bit too soon for that sort of dissection), and the part about Tom really not being a streaming dude is something. Tom was apparently so upset with Paramount’s then-CEO Jim Gianopulos (he had to be the guy who told Tom that the movie would move to Paramount+ after only a 45 day theatrical window) that it might be a key reason why Gianopulos got ousted:

Says an associate, “Jim was bridging between what [Paramount’s] Shari [Redstone] and [president and CEO] Bob [Bakish] wanted and what Jim felt was the right thing to do,” which was to protect the relationship with Cruise. “Part of the reason [Jim] is gone is that Shari and Bob thought they could wave a magic wand” and persuade the star to accept the shortened window.

Sure enough, Cruise was having none of it. Seeing himself rightly as Paramount’s most important, not to mention longest-term, partner, he was said to be furious. He had no intention that any of his movies would play for a day less than his standard three-month run. “For him, 45 days is like going day-and-date,” says a Paramount source. He also felt that setting a date when the movie could be seen on the service would discourage people from going to the theater.

The piece also details how talks about the shortened theatrical window ended with Tom agreeing to argue at a later date and contacting his attorneys to alert them for the battle (kind-of understandable, since part of Tom’s pay correlates to box-office dollars). Reportedly, Gianopulos attempted to explain to Tom how the theater industry had changed, and how 45 days seems to be the magical amount of time to capture most box-office revenue for a movie. Tom apparently wasn’t buying it, and yeah, don’t look for Tom Cruise to get big into streaming. He is, after all, the guy who made a big show out of watching Tenet while masked in a theater.

There’s probably no Netflix contract for Tom, in other words. After all, he’s gotta run and perch atop speeding trains on the big screen.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

Over the past several years—including the four he was President of the United States—Donald Trump spent enough time talking about Hillary Clinton that he could have likely declared it a second job. When he isn’t leading groups of MAGA-heads in a rousing rendition of “Lock her up!,” he has come up with increasingly immature nicknames for her (Crazy Hillary, Crooked Hillary, Heartless Hillary, and the kinda folksy Lyin’ Hillary all spring to mind), and just generally attempting to besmirch her reputation whenever he can.

While the former president is undoubtedly an unpredictable man, the news that has now filed a totally bonkers RICO lawsuit against Clinton, the DNC, and several others, claiming that they engaged in a criminal conspiracy to “destroy his life”—which is something Trump is clearly fully capable of doing all on his own.

As Bess Levin writes for Vanity Fair:

In a 108-page filing, Trump claimed that Clinton, along with the Democratic National Committee, former FBI director James Comey, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and more than a dozen other people “orchestrated an unthinkable plot” to undermine his campaign and subsequently his administration, by “weav[ing] a false narrative” that Trump “was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty,” i.e. Russia. While the allegations are both vast and likely baseless, the basic idea is that Clinton and company tried to take down Trump the candidate and then Trump the president through illegal espionage and other subterfuge. The complaint argues that the alleged conspiracy falls under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, i.e. the law that was originally passed to prosecute the Mafia.

“The Defendants, blinded by political ambition, orchestrated a malicious conspiracy to disseminate patently false and injurious information about Donald J. Trump and his campaign, all in the hopes of destroying his life, his political career and rigging the 2016 Presidential Election in favor of Hillary Clinton,” the filing reads. “When their gambit failed, and Donald J. Trump was elected, the Defendants’ efforts continued unabated, merely shifting their focus to undermining his presidential administration. Worse still, the Defendants continue to spread their vicious lies to this day as they unabashedly publicize their thoroughly debunked falsehoods in an effort to ensure that he will never be elected again.”

Yes, it’s OK if you’re chuckling a bit right now. Though you’ve got to give the man some credit for being proactive if he does indeed decide to run for president again and either doesn’t win the Republican nomination or the election itself. It also speaks to Trump’s loss to Joe Biden, so: win-win-win.

As far as the Russia investigation goes, The Washington Post made sure to remind readers that “Despite Trump’s repeated claims that he was exonerated by former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III after a two-year investigation, Mueller in 2019 said only that his team had made no determination on ‘collusion’ and that it had not found sufficient evidence to charge any member of Trump’s campaign with criminal conspiracy.” Translation: He was never exonerated.

As Levin notes, the downside to the lawsuit for Trump’s most loyal followers is that he has filed it as a civil suit, meaning that the former POTUS won’t be responsible for anyone “locking her up.” Instead, Trump is looking to score a $72 million-plus payday for his “pain and suffering.”

(Via Vanity Fair)

Last week, Charli XCX dropped her latest album, the pop-forward Crash. Now she’s already back with even more new music thanks to the deluxe edition of the album that dropped today. This expanded version of the albums adds four songs: “Selfish Girl,” “How Can I Not Know What I Need Right Now,” “Sorry If I Hurt You,” and “What You Think About Me.”

She teased the new songs yesterday with a website featuring a vault, which invited fans to enter three-digit codes to listen to previews of the songs. Also noteworthy is the new cover art for the deluxe edition, which is similar to the photo from the original album but features Charli in a slightly different post, a white bikini instead of black, and more blood on her face.

In a Rolling Stone UK interview, Charli noted Crash was initially going to be named after “Sorry If I Hurt You,” saying, “This album was originally going to be called Sorry If I Hurt You and I liked that title because that sentence is both past, present, and future. You can say that sentence to someone as if you hurt them in the past or as if you’re going to hurt them or if you’re about to do it right there and then.”

Stream the deluxe edition of “Crash” below.

Crash is out now via Atlantic Records. Get it here.

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

Destroyer is a band that has been around for so many years, they seem to exist in their own realm. This week on Indiecast, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen dig into Destroyer’s new album Labyrinthitis and wonder if the band is now immune to criticism from music reviewers. Oso Oso, on the other hand, is being picked up by music outlets. It seems as though their surprise-released album Sore Thumb is finally putting them on the indie music map.

This week also had some big news in indie music: Will Butler announced he has officially left Arcade Fire. Indiecast talks about Butler’s decision and discusses Arcade Fire’s new music. Steven and Ian also walk through Lollapalooza‘s 2022 lineup, which was just unveiled this week and includes the apparently controversial headliner Metallica.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian’s highlights several bands including Caracara, Soul Glo, Proper., and Carly Cosgrove. Steven praises Wednesday’s recent covers album, Mowing The Leaves Instead Of Piling Em Up.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 82 on Spotify 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.

One of my favorite TV tropes is when two characters who have spent tons of time together in a group setting realize they have nothing to talk about when it’s just them. It happened in “The Dog” episode of Seinfeld after Jerry bows out of seeing a movie and George and Elaine (“Just me and George?”) have an awkward realization that the only thing they have in common is making fun of their friend, and it happened in the second episode of Atlanta season three.

After Earn (Donald Glover) wakes up late in Copenhagen, he asks Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) to pick up Van (Zazie Beetz) in Amsterdam for him. They hop into a van together, and the uncomfortably strained chatter commences. “And you and Earn? You guys gonna… pop out another baby?” Darius asks Van, who responds that she has a boyfriend. When she asks him the same question, he replies, “I can’t procreate. I had my balls crushed when I was a kid in Nigeria.” Following a few moments of interminable silence, Darius (who later admits that he doesn’t “do well” at small talk) asks, “You ever seen the movie Foodfight!?” Check out the trailer, he insists. “It’s intense.”

Something tells me Van will not be checking out the trailer, but you should.

If you listen to enough podcasts about bad movies, you already know about Foodfight! (I recommend The Flop House‘s episode). But just in case: it’s a 2012 animated movie with a reported $65 million budget — even though it looks like it cost 65 bucks — that made $73,706 at the box office. Look, I’m no financial expert, but that seems bad.

The plot follows Dex Dogtective, voiced by Charlie Sheen, a dog detective (in case you weren’t sure by his name) who brings together mascots of registered-trademark products, like Charlie Tuna and the Twinkie kid, to stop the evil Brand X. Foodfight! is basically “what if Toy Story was about product placement… and also it sucked.” The voice over cast includes Wayne Brady as a squirrel, Hilary Duff as a cat named Sunshine Goodness, and Christopher Lloyd in his most famous role, “Mr. Clipboard.”

From a 2013 AV Club write-up:

Foodfight! was apparently made for a very strange, very specific audience of small children, branding super-freaks, furries, perverts, and people who’ve always fantasized about f*cking Mrs. Butterworth. This would be creepy and leering even if the parties involved weren’t from different species. It’s a testament to how shockingly lascivious and sexual Foodfight! is that an actor synonymous with violent, cocaine-fueled orgies with high-end prostitutes being cast as its dashing hero actually represents one of its less sketchy and offensive aspects.

Like Darius said, “it’s intense.” Enjoy!

It’s good to have you back, Atlanta.

Last week, Britney Spears’ frequently used Instagram account was mysteriously deactivated. While it’s not clear what happened there, Spears returned to the platform a few days later. Now, she’s back to posting and last night, she took the opportunity to vent about a few annoyances in her life, past and present.

In a post shared yesterday, Spears notes she has considered getting a boob job and even tried taking some initial steps to make it happen, writing:

“It’s crazy living in Los Angeles … I was thinking about getting a boob job … my boobs are fairly small … I mean with the right bra it’s fine but I was curious what a doctor would say !!! I lost 7 pounds in the last 6 months and that’s a lot for me !!! I’m officially part of the ‘itty bitty titty committee’ … they shrunk !!! I don’t know where my boobs went … well I show up at the office and I’m going the back way walking up 8 flights of stairs !!! I’m like WTF is this ??? They want you to die before you make it there !!! F*CK THIS !!! Nobody was there to let us in … uhhh how long do we wait here ??? 10 minutes go by … 15 minutes … f*ck that !!! I’ve never been back.”

She then goes into how she’s rarely been satisfied with photoshoots of herself and how her father used to talk about her weight:

“I haven’t been shot well though, I’ve never been more humiliated and embarrassed in my life during the years in my conservatorship. Yes I do care and anyone would if you saw yourself the way I have … my dad always told me I was fat and being the heavy girl on stage wasn’t fun … It was humiliating !!! I had one good cover in 13 years of my conservatorship … the rest were all extremely bad !!! They could have at least cheated and used technology … but they used it to make it worse !!! Such a f*cking waste of time […] I am absolutely a victim to all of the societal objectifications and exploitations that women are subjected to … I have bought into myself at times.”

In another post shared a few hours later, Spears noted just before the start of her conservatorship, she had a secret boyfriend:

“I even used to have a boyfriend whom we had a secret relationship … secrets are intimidating … like what’s your secret recipe ???? My family couldn’t stand the fact I disappeared into oblivion in my relationship !!!! They never heard from me anymore … like ‘What’s her deal? We want to know!’ 6 months later my dad took over my whole career and cut all my friends out and boyfriend … even one lady I had coffee with was my mom’s friend and I was told I couldn’t see !!!!”

She also wrote about a general sense of not feeling included. Offering an example, she wrote, “I brought my dancers to several nice restaurants and paid for it all and they would have parties on lakes I didn’t even know existed and not once was I invited !!!”

Find Spears’ posts below.

For the bulk of 2022, DJ and fashion designer Nigo has promoted his sophomore album I Know Nigo! It’s Nigo’s first album in over twenty years, but despite the absence, he’s recruited some of today’s biggest names to help him put it together. I Know Nigo! was led by four singles: “Ayra” with ASAP Rocky, “Want It Bad” with Kid Cudi, “Hear Me Clearly” with Pusha T, and “Heavy” with Lil Uzi Vert. Now that the album is here, listeners can enjoy seven additional songs other recognizable names in the industry.

One of those is “Lost And Found Freestyle 2019” with ASAP Rocky and Tyler The Creator. The track is an extremely boastful effort as Rocky and Tyler use two different beats to boast about the way with women, cars, jewelry, fashion, and much more. In addition to “Lost And Found Freestyle 2019” being Rocky’s second appearance on the album, it also makes for Tyler’s second guest verse on I Know Nigo! as he also appears on “Come On, Let’s Go” which he released a self-directed video for.

Elsewhere on I Know Nigo!, listeners will catch appearances from Gunna, Pharrell, Clipse, Teriyaki Boyz, ASAP Ferg, and Pop Smoke.

You can listen to “Lost And Found 2019 Freestyle” in the video above.

I Know Nigo! is out now via Republic Records. You can stream it here.

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

This past week has been an eventful one for Latto in both good and bad ways. She was able to build anticipation for her second album 777 which was led by a pair of singles: “Big Energy” and “Wheelie.” However, in an attempt to shed some light on her struggles as a female rap star, she brought an overflow of attention to herself. Latto revealed that there was a male artist on the album that made it “difficult to clear” a guest verse because she did not respond to their Instagram DM. She later expressed her regrets about making the reveal due to the drama it caused, but that’s behind her now.

At long last, 777 is here for us to enjoy. The project comes with features from some rap peers in close proximity to Latto’s class like Lil Durk, 21 Savage, Nardo Wick, and Kodak Black. However, there’s also a song that features appearances from two big-time names: Lil Wayne and Childish Gambino. They appear on “Sunshine” and it’s a warm record produced by Bongo ByTheWay that finds the trio taking a moment to send prayers to their enemies as they continue to elevate and defeat the odds.

While the song adds to Lil Wayne’s long list of guest verses over the last couple of years, it’s the first musical contribution we’ve heard from Childish Gambino, better known as Donald Glover, since he released his fourth album 3.15.20 back in 2020.

You can listen to “Sunshine” in the video above.

777 is out now via 3/25. You can stream it here.

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

Despite releasing a scarce amount of music so far this year, Finneas has had quite the active 2022 year so far. He’s gearing up to perform with Billie Eilish at the Oscars this weekend, where they received a nomination for Best Original Song with “No Time To Die.” Finneas also dropped a video for “The Kids Are All Dying” video from his full-length debut album Optimist which he released last fall. Additionally, he’s also contributed to the soundtrack for the Disney film Turning Red. Now, Finneas is back with even more music for his supporters and it comes in the form of his new single, “Naked.”

The track is a groovy number that finds Finneas unloading his regrets about a failed relationship. On it, he sings, “I can’t believe you’ve seen me naked,” which alludes to his frustration about his past lover knowing all the ins and outs about him. The track also comes with an accompanying music video that finds Finneas showing off some dance moves while sharing his regrets in love.

In addition to all the aforementioned work that Finneas has delivered in 2022, his latest single arrives after he dropped off a tender cover of Bon Iver’s “Flume.” Out of all these records that Finneas has written and released, it appears that working on music for Turning Red seemed to be one of his most fun moments in music. At least that’s what Billie says. “When we got approached about this project, we leapt at the opportunity,” she said about contributing music to the film. “It’s literally the most fun we’ve had writing.”

You can listen to “Naked” in the video above.

In early 2021, it seemed like Chance The Rapper was gearing up to release a new project, one that would be his first release since 2017’s The Big Day. He kicked off the year with the reflective “The Heart & The Tongue,” and prior to that, he returned with “Shelter” alongside Vic Mensa. The latter stood as the Chicago rappers’ first collaboration in years, and while Mensa has delivered multiple projects since then, Chance has not. Maybe 2022 is the year for a new body of work from Chance, but that remains to be seen. Until then, we can enjoy his newest single with help from painter Naila Opiangah and singer Moses Sumney.

Together, the trio arrives with “Child Of God,” a mellow track that sports bare-bone production which allows Chance the show off his rap skills. He uses his bars to look back on simpler times in a world that tends to be very complicated. The track also arrives with vocals from Moses Sumney and an accompanying music video that captures Chance rapping the lyrics to the song as Opiangah paints what turns out to be the song’s cover art on a large canvas beside him.

Chance premiered the video at the Museum of Contemporary Art where he spoke about his next project and what could be expected from it. “They all come from a space of me finally feeling empowered and me finally feeling ready to go speak on all the things that I think about,” he said about the project’s songs according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “This project does explore a lot darker themes than I have in the past couple of projects. But, it’s all still from a place of understanding that it’s all a process.”

“Child Of God” arrives after he reconnected with his SaveMoney crew earlier this month to release “Bag Boy,” their first song in eight years. Prior to that, he reunited with Supa Bwe for “ACAB” and also teased an upcoming song with Vic Mensa.

You can listen to “Child Of God” in the video above.