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It’s fair to say that the Alien films have moved into an entirely different (and Predator-ial) place in popular culture than their original space, and it’s time to take the franchise back to basics. That’s what Fede Álvarez, the atmosphere obsessed director of 2013’s Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, does in the upcoming movie that appears to pretend that those Prometheus movies don’t exist. To fuel that spirit, Álvarez travels back in cinematic time to the place between Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986).

As a result, Álvarez will take those face-huggers back to their horror roots and the humans back to their blue-collar beginnings. Expect the ship to be a character as much as those who find themselves running from invading creatures, and overwhelming claustrophobia will reign supreme while stoking tension. Let’s get down to xenomorphic business with what to expect.

Plot

This film is not to be confused with the other currently in-production Alien project, a series from FX that is currently filming in Thailand and stars Timothy Olyphant. That show hails from showrunner Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) and will revolve around a monster on earth, where it cannot be as easily confined as within a ship floating in space. However, a positive aspect of that scenario is that there should be places to hide in the wide-open environment, yes?

Whereas in Alien: Romulus, with Ridley Scott coming back as producer, there is no such luck. Álvarez was inspired to take on this project while watching Aliens‘ extended cut, and he wondered what would happen when a group of colony children grew up and forged out on their own. As a result, this film shows 20-somethings who are also “very blue collar… but they are way younger than before.” The simple synopsis: “Young people on a distant world find themselves confronting the most terrifying life-form in the universe.”

Expect practical effects, and Álvarez recently provided a look at the face-huggers in exploration mode. Yikes.

This interquel’s story hops into the timeline between Alien (which took place in 2090-ish) and Aliens (which jumped ahead to 2179), so expect the ship and its technology to look very familiar with what we’ve seen onscreen in the original movies. Production designer Naaman Marshall (Nightcrawler, Westworld, The Dark Knight, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) certainly had a template to work with — look for the ship to closely resemble the “old” days — but this ship is occupied by a group of young-adult scavengers who receive much more than they bargained for.

Hey, nobody ever said that transitioning into adulthood is easy. This film should be a chest-bursting good time, and 20th Century Studios decided that the previously planned Hulu release plan should be scrapped for a theatrical rollout. Álvarez also recently told the Associated Press, “It’s a return to form. At its core, at its heart, it’s a horror thriller.”

Cast

The infested ship will be explored by characters portrayed by Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) in what looks like the Ripley-type role along with leads the cast with Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux, David Johnson, Aileen Wu, and Spike Feam.

Release Date

August 16 will be the perfect (sweltering) time to duck into a darkened theater to watch Alien: Romulus.

Trailer

Less is more when it comes to this teaser trailer. Now we’re cooking.

Talking Heads started the year by announcing Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute To Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, and since then, covers by various artists have been gradually rolling out. The project is out now, and that includes Miley Cyrus’ rendition of the classic “Psycho Killer.”

Miley Cyrus has long been an eager appreciator of the rock music that preceded her, and she proves more than capable of porting Talking Heads’ timeless favorite to 2024.

Cyrus and Talking Heads’ David Byrne had established a professional relationship before this project, as Byrne was one of the performers at Miley’s New Year’s Party in 2022.

Aside from Cyrus, the tribute album also features The National, Blondshell, The Linda Lindas, Él Mató A Un Policía Motorizado, Paramore, DJ Tunez, Teezo Touchdown, Jean Dawson, The Cavement, BadBadNotGood with Norah Jones, Kevin Abstract, Toro Y Moi with Brijean, Girl In Red, Lorde, and Chicago Batman with Money Mark.

Meanwhile, Cyrus has made some noise this year. In March, she and Pharrell teamed up for the single “Doctor (Work It Out),” and Cyrus also appeared on Beyoncé’s album Cowboy Carter.

Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute To Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense is out 5/17 via A24 Music. Find more information here.

It’s a big week for Black nerds. Ubisoft announced the next game in its long-running Assassin’s Creed series, Shadows, will feature the Black samurai Yasuke as a playable protagonist (we love Yasuke), and now, Lupe Fiasco has announced his return with the fittingly titled album, Samurai, coming June 28th via his own label, 1st And 15th. All we need now is a Ghost Dog sequel, and we’ve got the trifecta.

The first single is the title song, and comes with a simple music video well-suited to the subject, which finds Lupe posted up in various locations around his city that nod to the art and architecture of Imperial Japan. He also rocks a sweatshirt emblazoned with the word “Ishigawa,” which is Japanese for Westside (*pushes glasses up nose with one finger*), a clever reference to his hometown, with a neat tie-in to the Japanese themes.

Lupe last blessed fans with a full project in 2022 with the critically hailed Drill Music In Zion. The album title had a deep meaning for the Chicago rapper, and Samurai is no different; Lupe has long been known to be a big fan of Japanese culture, practicing the martial art iaido and incorporating references to Japanese fashion and anime into his lyrics, way before such things were considered “cool” to do.

“I sometimes get tagged by my fans as not doing personal records,” Lupe said in the press release for the album. “But I always tell people there’s me in there if you listen closely enough. This album is one of my more personal records to date. It’s not a full biography, but my personal experiences are tied up in all of my music. A lot of the records are me. Some are from the POV of a character. and some are me. The album weaves things from my life as an artist, touching on things other artists go through.”

Samurai is out 6/28 via 1st And 15th. You can watch the video above, see the tracklist below, and get more info here.

Samurai Tracklist:

01. “Samurai”
02. “Mumble Rap”
03. “Cake”
04. “Palaces”
05. “No. 1 Headband”
06. “Bigfoot”
07. “Outside”
08. “Til Eternity”

Earlier this week, it was reported that Chris Pratt‘s longtime stunt double Tony McFarr died at the age of 47. No cause of death was given.

McFarr and Pratt worked together on a number of action films over the years, beginning with 2015’s Jurassic World and continuing with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.

On Friday, Pratt took to Instagram to share a tribute to the performer. “Devastated to hear about the loss of my friend and former stunt double,” the actor wrote in a message on his Instagram story, adding, “We did several movies together. We golfed, drank whiskey, smoked cigars, and spent endless hours on set. I’ll never forget his toughness.”

Pratt continued, “I’ll never forget his toughness. I remember he took a nasty shot to the head (in the title sequence of Guardians 2) and he got several staples in his head – he came right back to work ready to go again. He was an absolute stud. He was always a gentleman and a professional. He’ll be missed. My prayers go out to his friends and family, especially his daughter.” He also included photos of the two of them from over the years.

Aside from his work with Pratt, McFarr also acted as a double for Jon Hamm and Brendan Fraser over the years.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

You never really know what you’re going to get from a Richard Linklater movie. It could be about a serendipitous romance, fun rock band shenanigans, or a gut-wrenching portrait of lost childhood innocence. Or it could be a stoner comedy. But Linklater’s latest film will give fans something they’ve never gotten before: a close look at Glen Powell’s show-stopping teeth.

Powell is the leading man in Linklater’s upcoming action comedy Hit Man. The movie was screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, where Netflix quickly snatched it up for a modest $20 million. Hopefully that should cover Powell’s dentist bill for a year or two.

Here’s everything to know about the upcoming Netflix release.

Plot

The film stars Powell as Gary Johnson, a philosophy professor with a cute cat (on trend) who moonlights as a police surveillance tech. On a short-staffed night, Johnson ends up covering for and impersonating an undercover hitman, and after he realizes he’s actually pretty good at this “hitman” gig, he begins to lean into the role, as every philosopher would do.

Hit Man is loosely based on Skip Hollandsworth’s 2001 Texas Monthly article of the same name in which the real life Gary Johnson worked undercover as a hitman in Houston.

While the story is inspired by Johnson, Linklater told Netflix that much of the plot is a fictional, exaggerated version of the story. The director said, “The real Gary did slight disguises, but not to the extent that we see in the film. I was like, ‘Should we really do a Russian accent?’ But Glen just pushed all of that to the max, and I love how it came out.”

Here is the official synopsis:

Inspired by the unbelievable true story, a strait-laced professor (Glen Powell) uncovers his hidden talent as a fake hit man in undercover police stings. He meets his match in a client (Adria Arjona) who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities.

Cast

Powell not only stars in the movie, but he also co-wrote it with longtime collaborator Linklater. The director told Netflix, “I always bring the script to the actors and make revisions during the rehearsal process, but with this one, we wrote it during the pandemic and had plenty of time. We were talking almost every day, and at one point, I said, ‘Let’s save a step and just write this thing together.’”

The movie also stars Andor’s Adria Arjona, Parks and Recreation’s Retta, and The Walking Dead’s Austin Amelio. And a cat.

Release Date

The movie will hit Netflix on June 7, but if you are looking to see Glen Powell’s shiny white teeth on a larger scale, Hit Man will be in select theaters on May 24, just in time for Memorial Day. The last time Powell starred in a Memorial Day weekend feature, it worked out pretty well.

Trailer

Here is the official trailer:

Billie Eilish’s new album, Hit Me Hard And Soft, is officially, which apparently means her self-imposed embargo on releasing singles has expired. “Lunch,” the borderline-NSFW song she debuted at Coachella last month, is the first song from the set to get the music video treatment. In the super-saturated, lo-fi clip, Billie dances in front of the camera in a number of different baggy outfits, showing off her grill, and lounging on an old couch.

In an interview with Rolling Stone ahead of the album’s release, Eilish explained the inspiration behind “Lunch,” which was just about as racy as the song’s lyrics. “I wrote some of it before even doing anything with a girl, and then wrote the rest after,” Eilish said. “I’ve been in love with girls for my whole life, but I just didn’t understand — until, last year, I realized I wanted my face in a vagina.”

Elsewhere on the album, Billie confronts her body image issues on the song “Skinny.” “People say I look happy / Just because I got skinny,” she sings. “But the old me is still me / And maybe the real me, and I think she’s pretty.”

Hit Me Hard And Soft is out now via Darkroom/Interscope Records. Find more information here.

After creating two of the best dramas in television history with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul (and also writing some stellar episodes of The X-Files), Vince Gilligan is working on a new series. This one will be on Apple TV+ instead of AMC, and for now, it has the working title of Wycaro. But considering it’s a new Vince Gilligan show, it could be called All Taylor Swift Fans Are Morons (a personal insult) and I’m still watching on day one. That’s how much goodwill he’s earned. Oh, and did I mention the show stars Rhea Seehorn, the Emmy-snubbed star of Better Call Saul? That’s important to know.

Here are other important things to know about Wycaro, including plot details, other members of the cast, and if there’s a release date… bitch.

Plot

Like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Wycaro (don’t be surprised if the title changes before the show premieres) is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Unlike the other two series, however, there’s “no crime, and no methamphetamine,” Gilligan told Variety. “The world changes very abruptly in the first episode, and then it is quite different. And the consequences that that reaps hopefully provide drama for many, many episodes after that.”

Wycaro will have “a sci-fi element to it,” Gilligan teased. “It’s going to be fun and different. I have no prediction as to how folks to react to it — whether they’ll love it or hate it, or somewhere in the vast in-between. But I know it’s a story that interests me.” The show, which has already received a two-season order, has been described as a “blended, grounded genre drama” with reality-bending comparisons to The Twilight Zone and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Seehorn is playing “a very different character” than Saul‘s Kim Wexler (she even has a “drastic hair cut”!). Gilligan wrote the part with her in mind, “which is hard to say without crying,” the actress confessed to The Hollywood Reporter. “We will shoot in Albuquerque, with a lot of the same crew… I could see lots of reasons why he would want it to be Albuquerque, but I can tell you that it doesn’t have anything to do with Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul.”

Cast

Well, you’ve got Rhea Seehorn. That’s enough right there. But Wycaro will also star Karolina Wydra (House, True Blood, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), who landed a lead role alongside Seehorn. The actress will play “a character referred to as Ana, an optimistic young woman,” according to Deadline.

Release Date

Filming just started, so don’t expect Wycaro until 2025 or 2026.

Trailer

There’s no trailer yet, but please enjoy Rhea Seehorn’s acting masterclass.

Post Malone’s recent foray into country music has been embraced by the genre’s award show establishment, if not all of its fans. The “Circles” singer made his ACM Awards debut last night, performing a pair of his new songs, including “I Had Some Help” (ironically, without the help of featured guest Morgan Wallen) and “Never Love You Again,” which was that song’s debut, as well.

Backstage, Post talked with presenter Bobby Bones about his transition into a country star. “I have been having so much fun and I went to Nashville probably about six months ago and I’ve always wanted to make a record in this vein,” he said. “I’m having so much fun and I love the people that I get to write with in Nashville. It’s the most amazing time.”

Post’s transition started earlier this year, intriguingly enough, at the Super Bowl, where he sang an acoustic rendition of “America The Beautiful” with a twangy guitar. The shift continued when he was billed as one of the performers at Stagecoach Festival, which raised some eyebrows among country music fans. He previewed what his new musical direction would entail as a guest performer on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album, appearing on the song “Levii’s Jeans.” His Stagecoach performance turned out to be a festival-defining set full of country covers like Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her.” With his performance at the ACM Awards, it looks like anticipation for his album, presumably releasing sometime this year, will be as high as the Rocky Mountains. Stay tuned.

A big week for college football video game fans continued on Friday, as a day after getting a release date (July 19) and official cover reveals, we got out first look at the ‘EA Sports College Football 25′ gameplay trailer.

The trailer looks great, as you’d expect, and only raises the excitement for the game to finally get in our hands. As for gameplay details, it sounds like they aren’t trying to stray too far from the things we loved in the past. Homefield Advantage is back, as is Pre-Snap Recognition, as young players will struggle to see the field and play before the snap and road teams will get shaken (literally) by raucous road atmospheres. They’re also adding a Wear and Tear System that will wear players down as they take hits and exert energy, forcing strategic sub patterns to keep players fresh for the fourth quarter.

EA Sports also offered details on the game modes we will be getting in the new game as part of the trailer reveal.

The one longtime fans of the game care most about is Dynasty mode, which sounds like it will operate similarly to the old games, but with the addition of the transfer portal and being a bit more built out.

Create a coach and take control of your own college football program. Establish your coaching staff, then work to recruit the best talent either straight from high school or direct from the transfer portal. Coaching archetypes and skill trees empower you to run your program your own way as you vie for a spot in the new 12-team College Football Playoff, or create your own college football program with customization tools on the Team Builder website.

Road To Glory mode also returns as the game’s player mode, once again with the added element of the transfer portal and NIL opportunities.

Live the life of a student-athlete with your created player and take home the Heisman as you build an unforgettable college football legacy. Manage your weekly schedule, GPA, and your image, earn Coach Trust to get more playing time, or use the transfer portal to get the time and the glory you deserve.

Beyond those two classic modes, EA Sports is bringing their Ultimate Team format to the game, along with an online Road to the College Football Playoff mode where you rise in the rankings by taking down top teams.

Dua Lipa has experimented with different genres in recent years, but she hasn’t really gotten into country music yet. She took a stab at it last night, though: Making her debut appearance at the Academy Of Country Music Awards last night (May 16), Lipa and Chris Stapleton delivered a surprise duet of Stapleton’s “Think I’m In Love With You.”

Stapleton told ET of the 2024 ACM Awards performance, “It was her idea, as far as I know. They kind of called us up and said, ‘Hey, she would like to do this.’ I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah!’ So we got on the phone and talked about it and worked on it a little bit. […] We really only kind of put together what we did like two days ago. So it was kind of a whirlwind of a thing to do — but it was awesome.”

Lipa also said, “It was a big dream of mine to work with Chris, and to have it happen tonight on the stage was really special. I’m a big, big Chris Stapleton fan, that’s for sure, and I love country music. I love the storytelling, I love the passion, and it was just so beautiful to be able to dive into that world a little bit, just kind of see it firsthand. It was really special.”

Check out a video of the performance above.