Despite having taken up MMA, Blake Lively has had a spotted history with action stardom. On one hand, there’s The Shallows, the delightfully minimalist thriller where she battles (though really out-wits) a shark. On the other, there’s The Rhythm Section, one of the last movies to bomb before the pandemic all but shut down the movie industry. But this should bump up her average: According to Deadline, she’s teaming with Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody to adapt a violent comic for Netflix.
That comic? It’s Lady Killer, from Dark Horse Comics, the Oregon-based line that has birthed the likes of Hellboy, The Mask, and Frank Miller’s Sin City. The premise, as per Deadline:
By all appearances, she is the perfect 1950’s housewife. But when she’s not catering to the needs of her family, she leads a secret life as a highly-trained killer for hire. She really likes the second job, and her husband has no idea.
So it’s True Lies, but about a 1950s housewife, which is a pretty solid pitch. The comic line has a first look deal with the streamer, which has so far given them Umbrella Academy and Polar, with the Tiffany Haddish-starring, McG-helmed Mystery Girl en route. Cody, meanwhile, was tasked with writing the big biopic about Madonna, which will be held my no less than the pop goddess herself.
The Baltimore Orioles have not had a lot of high points in recent years, having finished last in the AL East in three out of the last four years (they had a fourth place finish last year) and have made just three playoff appearances since 1998. On Wednesday came the high point of Orioles baseball in quite some time, as John Means went out and threw as close to a perfect game as one can have without officially getting one.
Means threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts, no walks, and no errors behind him on Wednesday against the Mariners, with the final out coming on a soft line drive to shortstop, leading to quite the celebration in Seattle.
If you’re wondering how a pitcher can throw a no-hitter with no walks and no errors and not have that be a perfect game, that’s an understandable question because, well, it’s never happened before. The only runner Means “allowed” came on a strikeout in the third inning, in which his curveball got past the catcher and rolled to the backstop on a swinging strike three, with the runner advancing to first.
That runner would get thrown out trying to steal second, and in the moment, few thought anything about it — it was just the third inning after all. However, that proved to be the only blemish on an otherwise perfect afternoon for Means, and will create a seemingly endless debate over whether this should indeed be ruled a perfect game, since we are breaking new ground here.
From @EliasSports: : This is the first non-perfect no-hitter in which the team did not record a walk, hit by pitch or error.
So, basically the only time a perfecto was broken up by a runner reaching on a passed ball on strike three.
As some have pointed out, a perfect game isn’t just a pitching record but one for the entire defense as well, and as such, a passed ball/wild pitch — they ruled this a wild pitch, but to be honest, I think this was more on the catcher — does indeed create a blemish even though he only faced the minimum of 27 batters since the runner got caught stealing. It is the third no-hitter in MLB this season, as pitchers are enjoying a tremendous start to the season, but Means’ performance was as unique as you’ll ever see and the debate will carry on over whether this should be considered perfection from him.
The 40-day fasting period of Ramadan observed by Muslims around the world is a both an individual and communal observance. For the individual, it’s a time to grow closer to God through sacrifice and detachment from physical desires. For the community, it’s a time to gather in joy and fellowship at sunset, breaking bread together after abstaining from food and drink since sunrise.
The COVID-19 pandemic has limited group gatherings in many countries, putting a damper on the communal part of Ramadan. But for one community in Barcelona, Spain, a different faith has stepped up to make the after sunset meal, known as Iftar, as safe as possible for the Muslim community.
According to Reuters, Father Peio Sanchez, Santa Anna’s rector, has opened the doors of the Catholic church’s open-air cloisters to local Muslims to use for breaking the Ramadan fast. He sees the different faiths coming together as a symbol of civic coexistence.
Every evening, volunteers serve a home-cooked Iftar dinner to between 50 and 60 Muslims, many of them homeless, in the open-air stone passages of Santa Anna Church.
The space was secured by Faouzia Chati, president of the Catalan Association of Moroccan Women. She was seeking a venue for Muslims to gather to eat and pray, and Father Sanchez provided a welcoming
“People are very happy that Muslims can do Iftar in a Catholic church, because religions serve to unite us, not to separate us,” Chati told Reuters.
Father Sanchez’s commentary on the cooperation between the two faith communities illustrates what’s possible. “Even with different cultures, different languages, different religions, we are more capable of sitting down and talking than some politicians,” he said.
Hafid Oubrahim, a 27-year old Moroccan who attends the dinners concurred. “We are all the same… If you are Catholic or of another religion and I am Muslim, that’s fine. We are all like brothers and we must help each other too.”
While there is no shortage of conflict between religious groups—in addition to conflict within religious groups—we have countless examples of interfaith cooperation that offer a vision of religion as a source of unity. Every major religion has its version of The Golden Rule, which presumably extends to people of all faiths, not just one’s own. Treating others the way we’d like to be treated is exactly what we see when we see stories like this. A Catholic leader offering a safe space for people to gather and worship, which is undoubtedly what he would want if his congregation were in the same boat. Muslim adherents expressing gratitude for the gracious offer, which is undoubtedly what they would appreciate happening if they made a similar offer. What a lovely example of the Golen Rule in action.
Religion can be used as an excuse for discord and disunity, but it doesn’t have to be. When we look for shared values and seek to build bridges instead of walls, religion can be a tool that brings people together—even people with diverse beliefs and practices.
Whether it’s offering a space for worship or fellowship, offering holiday greetings to people of other faiths, or even offering your body as a shield for people under threat for their religious affiliation, we can each be good neighbors to one another regardless of our spiritual traditions. Especially in a time when we are all experiencing a global pandemic that has made gathering in communities harder than usual and reminded us of how interconnected we truly are.
When we practice the most basic universal teaching of all faiths—treat others the way we ourselves would want to be treated—we create the world we all want to live in. Thank you, Father Sanchez and the Muslim community you’re serving, for the beautiful reminder.
The NHL is moving to new networks next season, as hockey is making its return to the ESPN airwaves and making its debut on TNT after Turner picked up the rest of the rights package. There was a movement when ESPN picked up NHL games again to bring back long-time NHL on ESPN announcer Gary Thorne, and while it remains to be seen if ESPN will make the call to their former voice of hockey, we now know who will be the lead play-by-play man for TNT’s coverage.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported on Wednesday that veteran broadcaster Kenny Albert — who has long been with Fox Sports, the NHL on NBC, and is the radio voice of the New York Rangers — will be their lead announcer and handle play-by-play for their four Stanley Cup Finals over the next eight years. Marchand also notes that with Doc Emrick retired, Albert is expected to call the 2021 Stanley Cup Final for NBC this year in their final season of NHL hockey before the new TV deal kicks in.
Albert is well known to sports fans nationally for his work on the NHL on NBC, MLB, NFL, and boxing on Fox, and also fills in on Knicks broadcasts when Mike Breen is assigned to ESPN games. That the 53-year-old is getting his chance to be elevated to the top NHL broadcast nationally is a well-deserved recognition of his work.
Regardless of if Game of Thrones‘ final season left you wanting more or wishing you could go back before any of that happened, HBO is obliging fans with a spin-off show all about House Targaryen, aka our girl Daenerys’ folks. Set a few hundred years before Dany ever laid eyes on Westeros, House of the Dragon presumably follows the events that take place in George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire and Blood, which recounts the history of House Targaryen, including their civil war, often referred to as the “Dance of the Dragons.”
Earlier today, HBO released the first images from the upcoming series, which feature a handful of what will certainly be dozen of new characters, assuming the show follows Game of Thrones’ lead. If these pictures have you wondering who these characters are, what House of the Dragon could be about, and how it all connects to Game of Thrones, we’ve got you covered. Forewarning though, while the plot of the show has not been confirmed and could very easily deviate from Martin’s established history, plot points from Fire and Blood are below. If you’re the type who likes to watch along and speculate with no additional information, you might want to come back to this article a bit later.
— In the first look at House of the Dragon, we get the chance to see Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), and Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). While the book the show is based on contains several stories chronicling the Targaryen legacy, all of these characters are major players in the Targaryen Civil war, leading folks to speculate it will follow that storyline closely. So, who are these folks?
— Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the show’s potential “main character,” is King Viserys first-born child and a dragonrider of Valyrian blood. After being unable to conceive a male heir, Viserys chose Rhaenyra to succeed him — a somewhat unconventional choice in seven kingdoms of Westeros. However, once Rhaenyra’s mother passed away and her father remarried, he and his wife, Alicent Hightower, gave birth to a son: Prince Aegon Needless to say, Rhaenyra and Alicent saw one another as potential competition for the throne, and their relationship was contentious at best.
HBO
— After King Viserys’ death, Alicent Hightower, aided by her father and Hand of the King Otto Hightower, seized the opportunity to name Aegon as the rightful heir to the throne, despite Viserys vows to pass down the throne to his eldest daughter. Needless to say, Rhaenyra didn’t take too kindly to her being usurped and formed her own counsel at Westeros’ capital Dragonstone, accompanied by her uncle-turned-husband (yes, Targaryen truly be Targaryen-ing) Prince Daemon Targaryen, Lord Corlys Velaryon, and of course, her dragons. While Rhaenyra played nice with her family, the Black Council recruited those in support of Rhaenyra in order to challenge Aegon’s claim.
— What followed was a lot of death — like a lot — and a reputation for turmoil and madness that would follow the Targaryen family for centuries to come. In addition, Rhaenyra’s aggression led many to believe the Targaryen women to be unfit for leadership, and from this point on women would come after men in the Targaryen line of succession, which definitely complicated things for Daenerys later. The events of the Dance of Dragons also drew lines in the kingdoms that would forever divide them. While the Starks, Greyjoys, and Tullys — all names we know well — supported Rhaenyra, the Lannisters did not. Already some of the bitterness we see in Game of Thrones begins to make more sense.
While we’re not exactly sure if all of this will be covered in House of the Dragon, which hits HBO next year, we do know the show will add to the horribly fantastical world Martin created — and give us a fun way to spend our Sunday nights.
Before his passing, DMX seemed happy to make time for interviews with various outlets, as it usually gave him an outlet to speak on the issues that weighed on his mind or reminisce about the good old days coming up in New York City (or Yonkers, as the case may be). It also provided plenty of meme-able moments and hilarious quotes, such as the time he shared his opinion on Drake, or that time he was flummoxed to learn a Black man named “Barack” was running for president, or that time he wound up singing “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,” delighting fans on the internet for the next half-decade to come.
And although he’s gone now, we’ve still got at least one last interview to look forward to, as TV One managed to get ahold of him in the midst of his comeback campaign for DMX Uncensored, a docu-series filmed just three weeks before his untimely demise that looks at his rise, fall, and bid for redemption in his own words. While the interview itself is scheduled to air May 16 at 8 pm ET on TVOne, a quick teaser was shared on the network’s Twitter account to promote the event.
Pete Davidson has a lot of tattoos. Or he did, anyway. Back in late December, a Teen Vogue article estimated he had over 100 of them, all over his body. That same article reported that he was looking to cover up or burn off at least a good chunk of them. (He’s even recently made fun of them on SNL.) Cut to early May, and that’s what he’s been doing. On a recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers (the tattoo business begins around the 9:45 mark), Davidson discussed exactly why he’s getting rid of so many — though not all — of his plethora of tats: Because it takes too long to cover them up when you’re doing movies or shows.
“It takes, like, three hours. You have to get there three hours earlier to cover all your tattoos,” Davidson explained, because for some reason people in movies, they don’t have them that much.” (The exception, of course, is The King of Staten Island, in which he’s playing sort-of-not-really himself.)
And so, to get more movie roles playing characters who aren’t covered head-to-toe in dozens and dozens of tattoos, he’s getting them burned off. “But burning them off is worse than getting them,” he said. Why? Because you have to explain each one to highly-trained medical doctors. When that tattoos are being removed, the doctor goes over each one, to see if they should be removed or not. And Davidson has some questionable inks.
“Before he goes to laser each tattoo, you have to hear him announce what tattoo it is, to make sure you want to keep it or not,” he said. “I’ll be sitting there, getting quite high off the Pro-Nox, which I actually quite enjoy. And all of a sudden I’ll hear, “Are we keeping the Stewie Griffin smoking a blunt?’ And then I’ll have to be like, ‘No, Dr. G.’”
But Davidson has some advice for people who get dicey tattoos that may have to be removed by doctors later: “Just make sure you really, really want them, and aren’t on mushrooms.”
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
Well, guess what: Mythic Quest is back. The Apple series from Always Sunny creator Rob Mcelhenney dropped a new special on April 16 (a bookend to its previous pandemic-themed masterpiece) and now it’s back for a full second season. Mythic Quest is so good. It’s warm and funny and mean and touching all at once, and so much more than it is if you think it is “a show about video games.” The cast is stacked and the inter-office intrigue only builds from the already excellent first season. Get in there. Do it. Watch it on Apple TV+.
It’s not a requirement to have seen The Clone Wars to enjoy The Bad Batch. All you need to know before watching the Disney+ animated series is that it’s about a group of clone troopers with genetic mutations with cool-ass names like “Wrecker” and “Hunter,” and it takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Now have fun and may the force… you know the rest. Watch it on Disney+ starting May 7.
We know what you’re thinking. Why in the hell would I want to watch a show about a dystopia populated with theocratic supremacists who view women as breeding machines in 2021? And we get it. We do. But here’s the thing: season four of The Handmaid’s Tale is kick-ass. Like, there’s literal ass-kicking going on — and rebellions and revolutions and some major character twists you won’t see coming. Things are changing in Gilead when the new season launches, and Elisabeth Moss’s June is fueling most of that metamorphosis. Watch for her … and for Bradley Whitford’s beard. Watch it on Hulu.
Need a little fantasy to shut down reality for a while? You’re in luck. Based upon Leigh Bardugo’s bestselling Grishaverse novels, this show follows dark forces that move against an orphan mapmaker, whose power might be the key to transforming a war-torn world. The good news is that you really don’t need to know the books to enjoy the first season of this show, although a taste for steampunk would help. Watch it on Netflix.
Netflix will up its anime game with this dazzling series from Japanese animation studio MAPPA. LaKeith Stanfield voices a character that’s based upon the real-life first African samurai, who struggles to leave his ronin past behind while living the quiet life in a war-torn, feudal village. You know how that’s gonna go, right? He’s gotta pick up that sword again to fight dark magic, robots, and a damn werewolf. It’s cool, and so is the score from Flying Lotus. Here, creator/director/producer LeSean Thomas builds upon his proven track record (The Boondocks, Cannon Buster, and Black Dynamite) of interweaving anime and Black culture. Watch it on Netflix.
As long as the true-crime train keeps chugging along, we’ll keep diving down murderous rabbit holes about cults and serial killers and satanic cabals. And we’ll do it while actively ignoring why we find these damn docuseries so entertaining (and what that says about us). So go ahead, binge this rather impressive investigative look at a crime spree that captivated the country in the 70s, one that was never truly solved – at least, not to journalist Maury Terry’s satisfaction. After watching this, you’ll probably have your doubts too. Watch it on Netflix.
This Joss Whedon-created show offers an intriguing setup about a group of “orphans” (almost exclusively women) who find themselves “gifted” with supernaturally-powered abilities. Although there’s far too many plotlines (and some plot holes), there’s also a fair amount of butt-kicking, and the atmosphere is killer. The embattled Buffy and Firefly creator officially exited the series last year, but you won’t be able to forget his presence. Whether that hurts or helps the show remains to be seen. Watch it on HBO.
Kick-Ass and Kingsman creator Mark Millar is to thank for this series starring a heavily bearded Josh Duhamel as The Utopian. He’s the head of a superhero family that’s hoping to pass the torch to a new generation, but (no real surprise) things aren’t going smoothly on that note. Yes, this description does evoke shades of Robert Kirkman’s Invincible (currently running on Amazon), but the vibe is less R-rated yet entertaining on its own merits. Much of the fun here involves this family’s twists on ethics. Watch it on Netflix.
9. That Damn Michael Che (HBO Max)
hbo max
With That Damn Michael Che, the SNL Weekend Update anchor is stepping into his own six-episode sketch series for HBO Max, digging into issues like profiling, healthcare, and anti-maskers with some nuance while throwing elbows at the powerful, hypocritical, and plain dumb. Produced by Lorne Michaels, the show will also feature cameos from other cast members like Cecily Strong, but don’t mistake this as some kind of spinoff or compare it to the 46 seasons old iconic series. Don’t compare it to anything, just let Che expand on the kind of pointed cultural criticism he’s become known for. Watch it on HBO Max starting May 7.
10. (tie) Girls5Eva (Peacock)
PEACOCK
The thing about Girls5Eva is that there’s almost too must talent involved to ignore. The series, about a girl group from the 1990s that gets a second chance at stardom, is produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. It stars Busy Philipps and Sara Bareilles and Renee Elise Goldsberry and Paula Pell. If these are names that mean something to you (and if you’ve been a fan of comedy over the last 10-15 years, they probably do), then you’re already in. Good. Sometimes things are that easy. Watch it on Peacock starting May 7.
This animated romp will please both fans of The Boys and The Walking Dead, and the latter reference has everything to do with the source material penned by Robert Kirkman. Invincible is an ultraviolent deconstruction of the superhero, and yes, we’ve seen plenty of dismantling already, but this story has heart. Stephen Yeun makes a fantastic leading man here, and the cast (J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, Walton Goggins, Jason Mantzoukas, Zazie Beetz, Zachary Quinto, Mark Hamill, and several TWD names) is ridiculously good. Watch it on Amazon.
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish movies available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
Tenet is all of these things at once: stunning to look at; ambitious; loaded with nuanced performances; littered with breathtaking action set pieces; a marvel of modern filmmaking; and just as confusing as all hell. That last one will go a long way toward how much exactly your mileage varies on the viewing experience. In a way (ironically, given the whole “movie theaters are back, baby!” thing they pushed during its initial release), this might make it the perfect movie to stream at home, because you can pause it every now and then to figure out what’s going on, or maybe even double-back after it finishes to see if individual scenes play differently. It might end up making the whole thing more enjoyable, even. Do not tell Christopher Nolan we said this. Watch it on HBO Max.
Well well well, do you want to see a star-studded and fun animated film from the production team behind Into the Spiderverse? We have pondered this question for days and have yet to uncover a valid reason why you wouldn’t. It’s got everything you could want: an oddball family trying to put down a robot uprising; voice work from Abbi Jacobson and Danny McBride and Maya Rudolph and a slew of other people you probably like; and an ending that might tug your heartstrings a little bit. Sounds like a decent Saturday afternoon to us. Watch it on Netflix.
In his review of the film last year, our Mike Ryan wrote, “there’s a scene in Nomaldland so beautiful I gasped as it whisked my brain to some of Terrence Malick’s early work.” That pretty much sums it up well — Nomadland is one of the most beautiful and touching movies we’ve seen in a while. And now it’s a full-on Oscar winner. There has never been a better time to check it out, except for every other weekend before this one. Still! Watch it on Hulu
Mortal Kombat is back (again) in movie form (again!), this time from producer James Wan and director Simon McQuoid and coming straight to HBO Max, for a limited time. All your favorites are back: Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Liu Kang, and so on, so if you want to see some familiar (covered) faces chop each other to pieces for various reasons, you are very much in luck. It’s one of the few franchises you can justifiably reboot every few years, if only because a bunch of talented fighters tearing each other apart is always a watchable premise. The plot is just a bonus. This is some extremely weekend viewing, which you deserve. Watch it on HBO Max.
5. Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street (VOD)
Screen Media
This documentary lit up Sundance and is now finally available on VOD as of May 7. Is it cute nostalgia-bait? Maybe. Will you probably love watching a touching story about immensely talented creative-types making a thing that has shaped childhoods for decades now, include your own. Uh, yes. Of course. Track it down and be prepared to cry a little.
Eric Andre, Lil Rel Howery, and Tiffany Haddish in a wild road trip prank comedy where they pull strangers into nutso stunts as they make their way to New York. You could do a whole lot worse in on a Saturday night. Watch it on Netflix.
Say what you will about Without Remorse, a mostly disappointing Tom Clancy movie that mostly wastes Michael B. Jordan as a growling Navy SEAL out for revenge against Russia and/or everyone, but it definitely does feature a lot of shooting and fire and corrupt bureaucrats, sometimes all at once. It’s your weekend. If you want to watch something like that… we get it. Enjoy! Watch it on Amazon Prime.
After a hardcore fan campaign and plenty of backlash (of both the content-related and behind-the-scenes varieties), the fabled “Snyder Cut” is no longer fabled but a real thing. It’s also a 4-hour thing, so it’s quite a mouthful to chew, but it’s undeniably a vast improvement over the theatrical version. Snyder’s version isn’t technically canon, but it’s still the realization of a fever dream and one that will satisfy those who longed for actual character depth amid all the CGI mayhem. Watch it on HBO Max.
Thunder Force teams up Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer for a wild action-comedy ride through a super-serum-filled Chicago. It’s probably not the best movie you’ve ever seen, but it is a fun little romp with some solid physical comedy. You can dig that, we imagine. Watch it on Netflix.
A directionless college student runs into her sugar daddy at a shiva (a Jewish funeral, basically). Also in attendance: her family and, oh yeah, her ex-girlfriend. Shiva Baby sounds like a slapstick comedy, but while there are good jokes, it’s also anxious with a tense score that had my skin crawling; it’s an 80-minute panic attack. Shiva Baby might be the best horror movie of the year so far.
Travis Scott‘s Astroworld Festival is making its return this year after being postponed due to COVID safety precautions and the year off did nothing to dull fans’ fervor. According to a press release from Live Nation, the festival’s organizers, tickets to this year’s fest sold out less than an hour after they became available at 10 am CT this afternoon. Even more impressively, neither Scott nor Live Nation has announced a lineup, although the previous fests have included guests like DaBaby, Lil Wayne, Megan Thee Stallion, and Post Malone.
While this year’s lineup will be announced closer to the event dates (November 5-6 at NRG Park in Houston, Texas), one performer is a given: Travis Scott himself. Whether his new album, speculatively titled Utopia, will be out by then is anyone’s guess, but considering how antsy some of Travis’ fellow stars have been to release their delayed 2020 offerings, it’s a safe bet he’ll at least be previewing songs from it, even with a potential setlist full of surefire hits like “Sicko Mode,” “Goosebumps,” and “Franchise.”
As in prior years, Travis’s festival will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Cactus Jack Foundation, which looks to enrich the lives of young people by providing access to education and creative resources. You can learn more about the nonprofit here. Meanwhile, you can stay tuned to Astroworld Festival updates at the official site.
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