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There might not be a single game in the world bigger than Epic Games’ Fortnite. The cartoonish Battle Royale might be best known for dancing and silly memes, but it’s also a pretty fun game in its own right. It is constantly updating, adding in new content, and has never been afraid to change everything, including the map.

Fortnite is also well-known for doing crossovers with other IPs. They’ve allowed people to play as superstar athletes like LeBron James, watch Ariana Grande put on a concert in the game, and even teamed up with superheroes. What’s even more fun about this is that, when these people are added to their game, they become part of the Fortnite universe. This means that all of these IPs are connected together in some strange way and it’s an example of how the devs at Epic aren’t afraid to get weird with their crossovers.

It’s also why the developers of last summer’s hit game, Among Us, are really unhappy with them right now. Fortnite recently added a new limited-time mode called “Impostors” where players will be able to hunt down someone that is betraying the group through sabotage. Find the impostor and you win, but if the impostor is a good enough at lying, they can escape the group unharmed. The concept alone isn’t unique — Call of Duty recently announced a similar mode of their own — but that’s not why the developers of Among Us are upset. They’re upset because it looks like Fortnite did a lot more than be “inspired” by Among Us to create this new impostor mode.

Naming your mode “Impostors” is one thing, but the maps are so close to one another it’s hard to not see why the developers of Among Us would be so irritated. Even worse is that with Fortnite and Among Us history of crossovers, this could have been a really cool opportunity for the two developers to work together. Among Us Community Director Victoria Tran even said as much in a tweet.

It’s pretty clear that the developers of Among Us have no problem with others taking inspiration from their success and making their own games. The concept of someone sabotaging the group and everyone else trying to discover them is not a unique one. The party game Werewolf, also known as Mafia, has been doing it for years. However, if you’re going to make a mode like this, maybe don’t name it after the main villains of the game you’re clearly taking inspiration from while also barely changing the maps, especially when that game has never shied away from crossovers.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus was one of the more surprising announcements to ever come from the popular franchise. A 3D open-world RPG? Fans had been asking for this forever, but it was one of those wishes that felt like it was never going to be answered. This is a franchise that has a formula, and they’ve been making only small changes since the first game came out in the ’90s, so why change it now? Perhaps it was a desire to give fans what they had been asking for, or maybe it was just a desire to do something new with a spin-off.

Now that we finally got to see more of the game on Wednesday thanks to the Pokémon Presents presentation, we were able to get a little more of a glimpse into why they would go this direction. Looking at the game, and based on what they told us during the presentation, it feels like Pokémon Legends: Arceus is trying to bring the game back to its roots — not just in setting, but in the overall goal of the player. These games have basically, since their inception, been about collecting a team of favorites, going on an adventure, and becoming the ultimate Pokémon trainer. However, as more Pokémon joined the games, an additional goal became completing the Pokédex so we could learn more about them.

In the original Pokémon Red and Blue, or Green for players in Japan, the goal wasn’t just about defeating the Elite Four. It was about catching all 151 Pokémon so we could learn as much about them as possible. Of course, with almost 900 Pokémon today, that goal is far more daunting. Most new games have lessened the importance of completing the Pokédex. Pokémon Legends: Arceus, however, is a game set in a time before humans and Pokémon started working together. They’re wild animals and multiple characters mention how they’re terrifying creatures. They’ll attack humans when they’re skittish around them and there is less known about them than in other games. This is a fun return to form for the franchise, with the goal once again being learning and understanding Pokémon.

This potentially new direction is perfect for the open-world setting that Pokémon Legends: Arceus wants. There is an exploration and learning aspect to every open-world game, from Breath of the Wild to Skyrim. This potentially new direction for Pokémon is really exciting, because the driving force of open worlds is the desire to learn and see what’s up ahead. Who doesn’t want to go out there and learn as much as they can about Pokémon? It’s the reason most of us played the games in the first place, and with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, we now have the game’s entire design backing up that desire to learn.

Of course, some of the usual goals of the series are still here. There are Pokémon to be captured, to battle, and there is a story to push everything forward. When Pokémon Legends: Arceus launches, maybe what appeared to be a game about exploration and learning is just the usual game with a different look to it, but the early signs point to something different. It’s a potential return to form for the franchise, one that goes back to throwing the player into an open world they know nothing about and telling them to go learn as much as they can. That’s a feeling that the mainline games don’t focus on creating anymore, so maybe Pokémon Legends: Arceus can be the one that does.

We didn’t know how good we had it with bad movies in December 2019.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Cats, both released on December 20 of that year, were collectively dunked on by just about everyone (including cast members). There hasn’t been a collective Mystery Science Theater 3000 experience like it since; a few months later, theaters shut down due to the pandemic and most of the bad movies since, like Artemis Fowl and Space Jam: A New Legacy, have been released straight to streaming. It’s not the same wondering if the dancing cockroaches actually have human faces or if you’re tripping balls (it’s the former, unless it’s both) from the comfort of your couch, but Jennifer Hudson, who played Grizabella the Glamour Cat in Tom Hooper’s misbegotten musical, thinks we were too hard on Cats.

“You know what? I think it was a bit overwhelming. It’s unfortunate that it was misunderstood,” the Respect actress told Total Film about the reaction to Cats. “I think later down the line, people will see it differently. But it is something I am still very proud of and grateful to have been a part of. Yeah, I got to be Grizabella the Glamour Cat!”

I respect her bright-side-of-life optimism and Hudson had one of the few genuinely good scenes in the musical with her performance of “Memories.” Counterpoint:

Maybe she means future generations “will see it differently” because they’ll get to see the butthole cut. That’s probably it.

(Via Total Film)

Nicole Kidman and David E. Kelley can’t quit each other. Nor can the pair step away from the small screen, and we’re all situated to reap the benefits. Most recently seen in The Undoing (with the naughtiest Hugh Grant incarnation of all) and previously in Big Little Lies (as part of an ensemble of lady powerhouses), Kidman is finally thoroughly enjoying herself in Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers. As with Lies, this project is based upon a Liane Moriarty novel, and so, expect to see an ensemble cast of stupendous talent gathered to portray a set of (mostly) privileged characters. More importantly for recency bias’ sake, this group of players also bears similarities to an unrelated HBO series that recently took a first-season bow. That would be The White Lotus, which just ended a season by dropping a deuce and wrapping a satiric take on the ultra-wealthy.

The two shows aren’t twins, that’s for sure. There are many differences to be had (The White Lotus weaves in social commentary like second nature, and Nine Perfect Strangers leans into soap operatics), but they do compliment each other. Instead of following a group of tourists at a Hawaiian resort where a master of ceremonies caters to their every needs while a murder mystery lurks in the background, Nine Perfect Strangers follows a group to a health-and-wellness resort (that’s actually called “Tranquilum”) where the stakes aren’t outwardly huge in a narrative sense, although something feels ominous. Kidman portrays a mysterious Russian guru, Masha, whose methods of healing her patients during retreats qualify as, well, unorthodox.

The strangers of the show’s title all seem to brandish an edge, too, even though the show itself isn’t so biting. From Bobby Cannavale as a former football player with serious personal demons and a pill addiction to Michael Shannon as a grief-afflicted, yet impossibly quirky father and Melissa McCarthy as a famous romance novelist with every facet of her life collapsing at once. Luke Evans and Regina Hall get to go to Rage Town with their characters, and there are hallucinations and freak-outs, both humorous and otherwise, aplenty, and let’s just say that these fine people, all of them, find themselves with afflictions that will seem, at once (given their often-surreal treatment) novel and familiar to the audience. There’s a lot of baggage here, and all of it’s engrossing, whether it’s mere entertainment or something that prompts more viewer empathy.

Mostly, however, this is Kidman’s show, and that’s the package that arrives. The show makes sparing use of her — to make her character as intriguing and mysterious as possible — while enlisting Manny Jacinto and Tiffany Boon among Masha’s staff that does a lot of the emotional dirty work. The show embeds many individual threads, although the parts tend to stand on their own, rather than as a cohesive whole. And even though the show’s atmosphere feels cult-like, there’s not a massive amount of heavy-handed commentary. Instead, the limited series deservedly bats around the wellness industry. It’s very easy to read into things a little more with speculation that is admittedly unfounded: I’m talking about that elephant called Scientology, which Kidman famously sprinted away from following her divorce from a certain Mission: Impossible star. It’s inappropriate to deeply read into how she’s portraying a cult-ish leader, given that Kidman has refrained from commentary on the subject. However, if you’ve seen The Master, there are certainly similarities to the leader that Philip Seymour Hoffman portrayed (who was based upon L. Ron Hubbard) and how Masha behaves, although obviously, the source material and script are responsible for how she’s rendered.

Yep, Kidman is having a ball as the headliner with a character that’s at once flashy and hiding trauma of her own. Masha’s methods are seductive, even as her followers (who appear to have been handpicked to attend this retreat) endure practices that no one (who hasn’t at least been mildly brainwashed) wouldn’t stomach without protest. The criticism of snake-oil salesmen gets aired into oblivion, although the show never feels too judgy. Rather, Nine Perfect Strangers empathizes with its characters, even the Instagram influencer portrayed by Samara Weaving. That character would have been far too easy to skewer without mercy, but this show finds the humanity in recognizing that everyone is dealing with sh*t in life.

Granted, some of this sh*t is very first-world in nature, and that’s alright. A lot of what I took from this limited series, aside from the superior performances and decent script, is that there are redeemable qualities in all of these characters, and you never really know what someone else is going through. That’s important, especially at this moment, to absorb. Even the luckiest among us have been going through a lot during the pandemic, and even the guru in this story is dealing with her own sh*t, as unrelatable as it might seem from the outside. Even if there’s an eerie feeling that permeates through this Nine Perfect Strangers, and much of the show feels surreal, the humans rendered within all feel real and often pleasant. So there’s no love-to-hate aspect involved here as with The White Lotus, yet it’s still a place you wouldn’t be sorry to visit.

Hulu’s ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ debuts on August 18.

Ariana Grande recently marked the three-year anniversary of her hit album Sweetener with a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos of the LP’s recording process. But she wasn’t the only one celebrating. Lizzo busted out a rendition of Grande’s “No Tears Left To Cry” on the album’s anniversary, although she said she doesn’t quite relate to the song’s title.

On Tuesday, Lizzo hopped on an Instagram Live session to connect with her fans after kicking off her new era of music last week. She suddenly broke out into a brief cover of “No Tears Left To Cry,” showing off her impressive vocal range. Cutting the cover short, Lizzo said the song’s lyrics aren’t exactly true for her. “Actually, I do have some tears left to cry, b*tch,” she said. “Let me get on this Live and start crying again.”

Of course, the tears Lizzo is joking about refers to when she got vulnerable with fans on Live last week. The singer apparently received some hateful comments following the release of her “Rumors” video, and the trolls were getting to her. “For the most part, it doesn’t hurt my feelings. I don’t care,” she told her fans while trying to hold back tears. “I just think when I’m working this hard, my tolerance gets lower, my patience is lower, I’m more sensitive and it gets to me.”

Watch Lizzo sing Grande’s “No Tears Left To Cry” above.

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

Over the past couple of years, the property rental app Airbnb has crossed paths with increasing frequency as rappers have used the service to rent properties for music videos (violating policy in the process), generate a little extra money (Blueface rented out his mansion in 2020), and generally caused mayhem, whether directly or indirectly (as in the case of the house whose floor collapsed due to an exuberant reaction to Young Nudy’s “EA”). However, one rapper is currently having issues with the company that she wants to escalate to legal action.

Bhad Bhabie says she wants to sue Airbnb because she can sign up for the app but as an 18-year-old, isn’t allowed to actually rent a room or home using the service. Posting on Instagram Stories, she wrote, “F*ck @airbnb y’all are weird asf not renting to me Bc I’m 18. FYI I’ve never thrown a party in my life believe it or not. Y’all will b hearing from my lawyer b*tches.” She elaborated on her issue in a second slide, “Why am I able to sign up then??? And before y’all trolls get into a tizzy I use it for travel.”

However, she has since deleted both slides according to TMZ, perhaps after coming to the realization that Airbnb’s policy was formed to comply with various state and federal regulations, not arbitrarily. The policy reads “in some locations, people under age 25 with fewer than 3 positive reviews can’t book entire home listings within their local areas” but “can still book nearby private rooms and hotel rooms. Outside the local area, they can book any type of listing.”

While it would probably be slightly more convenient for Bhad Bhabie to be able to book out-of-town rentals for travel herself, it seems she is just having her manager do it instead. The only thing we can say is, “Just wait.” Those seven years go by a lot quicker than you think. See above for the screenshots.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie‘s successful rap run precedes the rise of the (mostly) Brooklyn-based drill movement by a couple of years, but that isn’t stopping the Bronx native from making the trek downtown to assist his fellow New York rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow on their menacingly melodic new single “Run It Up.”

The beat splits the difference between the acoustic guitar-laden, almost R&B-ish production favored by A Boogie and the sparse, off-kilter drum patterns employed by drill stars Sheff and Sleepy, giving both boroughs’ representatives plenty to work with as they brag about the travails of street fame and relationships.

Sleepy and Sheff, who have frequently collaborated over the past few years they’ve been active, are just two of the rising stars working to fill the void left behind by the death of Pop Smoke in 2021. While Sleepy just released his debut album Still Sleep? on Empire in June, Sheff is a year removed from his own debut One And Only, and appears to be preparing for his next release. A Boogie, meanwhile, has been building on his prior success with multiple cross-borough collabs this year, including another Brooklyn linkup with Rowdy Rebel for “9 Bridge” and an appearance on Nas’ King’s Disease sequel.

Listen to Sheff G’s “Run It Up” featuring Sleepy Hallow and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie above.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

This summer, Courney Barnett kicked off a new era with “Rae Street,” the first single of her upcoming album Things Take Time, Take Time. Last night, the song got a big look as Barnett performed it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

For the pre-taped performance, Barnett was joined by her bandmates in an old-warmly lit house, where they performed the track in the open living room. Part of Barnett’s backing band was Warpaint drummer and fellow Australian favorite Stella Mozgawa, who co-produced Things Take Time, Take Time alongside Barnett.

In a recent interview, Barnett reflected on one of the song’s lyrics: “All out candles, hopes and prayers / Though well meanin’ they don’t mean a thing / Unless we see some change / I might change my sheets today.” She said, “Sometimes I think things can be more powerful when they’re subtle. Small actions count just as much as big ones, small changes eventually bring big ones. I think things are changing for the better, but it’s gradual. I always get worried that people just learn to say the right thing.”

Watch Barnett perform “Rae Street” on The Tonight Show above.

Things Take Time, Take Time is out 10/12 via Mom + Pop Music/Marathon Artists. Pre-order it here.

Movie fans feeling the need for speed will have to make do with Top Gun: Maverick for the time being, which arrives in theaters on November 19th. Because they’ve got a bit of a wait on their hands for the tenth installment in the Fast and Furious series. Someone who claims to have insider knowledge of the Fast and Furious production schedule is telling The Wrap that Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his pals won’t be back on the big screen until April 7, 2023.

While Universal, the franchise’s distributor, did not immediately respond to The Wrap’s request for comment, the site writes that:

Fast and Furious 10 is planned as [the] next-to-last chapter in the story of Dom Toretto and his chosen family of criminals-turned-superheroes, with the series to end with the 11th movie. Justin Lin, who turned the series into a global powerhouse starting with 2006’s Tokyo Drift and directed all but two subsequent installments, including this year’s F9, is expected to direct both 10 and 11.

While the original film in the series, Rob Cohen’s The Fast and the Furious (2001), holds a not-so-stellar 54 percent approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes, the film became a surprise hit with audiences, earning a reported $207.3 million worldwide. Today, the Fast & Furious series ranks as the 15th highest-grossing film franchise, right behind Superman.

(Via The Wrap)

I don’t know what rappers’ preoccupation with putting private jets in their videos lately is all about, but it’s a phenomenon that has infiltrated seemingly every major rapper’s catalog over the past year or so. Rod Wave‘s “Time Heals” is no exception, as the Florida-born rapper-singer’s latest clip sees him celebrating the fruits of his recent success with shots from behind-the-scenes tour footage, snippets of his grill-fitting and tattoo sessions, and of course, the obligatory “I’m boarding a private jet” shots.

He has reason to celebrate. Earlier this year, his third album SoulFly became his first to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums charts behind the singles “Tombstone” and “Street Runner,” as well as his inclusion in the 2020 XXL Freshman class after his first two albums became viral favorites. This Friday, he’ll look to extend SoulFly‘s success with the release of a deluxe version, the origin of his latest single.

In addition to his own album, Rod Wave has appeared on a few notable features this year — namely, “Heart Of A Giant” from Polo G’s third album Hall Of Fame and “Rich Off Pain” from Lil Baby and Lil Durk’s collaborative project The Voice Of The Heroes.

Watch Rod Wave’s “Time Heals” video above.

SoulFly deluxe is due 8/20 on Alamo.