Last week, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s daughter North went viral for a beautiful landscape painting that she made, which was especially impressive considering that she’s only 7 years old. Right away, her work drew Bob Ross comparisons, and now North has gotten some attention from the Bob Ross Experience, a museum that is housed in a refurbished version of Ross’ former studio.
TMZ reports that Sarah Strohl of Bob Ross Inc. says the company was “thrilled” to see North’s painting and that they’re inviting her to visit the Muncie, Indiana museum. If North were to find her way to Muncie, she would be able to check out Ross’s paintings and take a class to learn about Ross’ painting techniques from a certified instructor.
After North’s painting was first shared, some people questioned whether the young artist actually painted it herself. That prompted outrage from Kardashian, who wrote on social media, “DON’T PLAY WITH ME WHEN IT COMES TO MY CHILDREN!!! […] I’m seeing op-ed pieces in the media and social media from grown adults breaking down whether or not my child actually painted this! How dare you see children doing awesome things and then try to accuse them of NOT being awesome!?!?! Please stop embarrassing yourselves with the negativity and allow every child to be GREAT!!! NORTH WEST PAINTED THAT PERDIOTDDDDDABCDEFGZFDT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Morgan Wallen is found himself in the midst of controversy over the past couple of weeks thanks to a video that captured him using a racial slur with friends. Despite this, it hasn’t stopped the singer’s recent success on the charts as his sophomore album, Dangerous: The Double Album, kept its No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 chart dated February 20. The project tallied an additional 150,000 units thanks to 107,000 streaming equivalent album units and 37,000 pure album sales. In addition to retaining his crown on the charts, Wallen’s 2018 album, If I Know Me, made its top-ten debut coming in at No. 10.
Dangerous is just the third album in the last 12 months to spend five weeks at No. 1 on the charts. The other two projects to accomplish this were Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Lil Baby’s My Turn, which were the two most popular albums of 2020. Wallen’s sophomore effort is also the first country album to land five total weeks at No. 1 since Taylor Swift’s Red. The last country album to spend its first five weeks atop the charts was Shania Twain’s Up, which accomplished this between December 7, 2002 and January 4, 2003.
The singer’s return to No. 1 comes after he shared a five-minute Instagram apology video for his use of a racial slur earlier this month. “The video you saw was me on hour 72 of 72 of a bender, and that’s not something I’m proud of either,” he said at one point. Elsewhere, he acknowledged the severity of his actions and revealed some of the work he’s done in the last week to turn things around.
“Since that video was taken, I’ve been sober for nine days,” Wallen said. “It’s not all that long of time, but it’s enough to know the man in that video is not the man that I’m trying to be.”
John Oliver made his much appreciated Season 8 return on Last Week Tonight and not a moment too soon. After all, a lot has happened in the past month, and it’s been almost a year since Oliver handed out much needed advice on COVID-19. Unfortunately, it is still very much with us, so Oliver sort-of made it the subject of his deep dive, but not before putting his thoughts on Netflix’s sultry, sexy Regency England-set hit, Bridgerton, on display for all. He did so in a backhanded way while acknowledging that “if you want to see a British person do something hot or interesting,” then Bridgerton is there for the taking. He added his one-sentence take on the series: “Lots of jizzing in blankets on that show.” He’s not wrong! (My regards to the Duke.)
However, Oliver needed to get serious, so he dove not into COVID-19 but brought a dire warning for “the next pandemic,” which no one wants to think about but should consider. After all, the world saw multiple epidemics (Swine Flu, Ebola, MERS, and Zika) in the decade prior to our current pandemic, and not too many people listened to those warnings. So, Oliver made a lengthy dive into how humanity’s disruption of the Earth’s landscape, particularly through deforestation, has almost guaranteed that we’ll unearth new diseases, and the time is now to prepare for more payback from Mother Nature:
“If we’re not very careful, the next pandemic could be even worse… So for the good of future generations — and in all likelihood, us in a few years’ time — we really need to remember how we feel right now and invest accordingly, because the truth is you never know where the next pandemic is going to come from.”
Urbanization and “wet markets” are other key cradles for emerging diseases, and Oliver notes that “it does being to seem like we’re actively trying to start pandemics.” There’s surely no way to help shut down all of humanity’s most disastrous vices because “draconian measures are just not going to work,” acknowledges Oliver. In other words, black markets will exist if wet markets shut down, but he sure hopes that mankind will at least consider that the COVID-19 situation could happen again, and that nations will take some preparatory action. Watch the full clip above.
Mariah Carey is music’s queen of Christmas, but that’s not her only holiday, as she has a Valentine’s Day presence as well. She has a number of sexy hits in her discography, including the classic “We Belong Together.” Over the weekend, she offered up a new rendition of the track in honor of the romantic day.
She and a band performed a rendition of the song, dubbed “Mimi’s Late Night Valentine’s Mix,” for Live With Kelly And Ryan. Parked in front of a seductively burning fireplace, she, a bassist, keyboardist, and drummer ran through a sultry performance.
Sharing a video of the cover, Carey wrote on Twitter, “Happy early Valentine’s Day! Hope you enjoyed ‘We Belong Together’ on @LiveKellyRyan which we did after a late night jam session! We actually recorded a 7 minute version of this song, thinking of putting it out for the lambily!”
Happy early Valentine’s Day! Hope you enjoyed “We Belong Together” on @LiveKellyRyan which we did after a late night jam session! We actually recorded a 7 minute version of this song thinking of putting it out for the lambily! https://t.co/bEfatStmoBpic.twitter.com/8bR2PcZJTc
Unfortunately, Carey apparently planned to drop the full 7-minute version on Valentine’s Day, but unfortunately, it looks like something got in the way of that, as she tweeted on Sunday, “I wanted to release it today but I guess it’ll take a few more days [broken heart emoji].”
Yeeees! I wanted to release it today but I guess it’ll take a few more days https://t.co/zTniRcqJmT
The 2021 Daytona 500 was a marathon, as the race that began at 2:30 p.m. ET didn’t finish until nearly 12:30 a.m. ET on Monday with two big crashes early and late defining the race on each side of a lengthy rain delay.
The first wreck saw a number of the top contenders in the race get knocked out on the 14th lap, as Aric Almirola got turned near the front of the pack after Kyle Busch got a big run pushing Christopher Bell and collected 15 other cars with him.
The race would go to a red flag due to the carnage of the wreck and immediately into a lightning delay that turned into a rain delay that stopped action until 9 p.m. ET. When they restarted, there were just 24 cars on the lead lap and while there were a couple minor incidents, things went fairly smoothly for most of the next 190 or so laps. Everyone was content to ride around single file late until the final lap, when guys got antsy and with a pack of Fords leading the race, with Joey Logano ahead of teammate Brad Keselowski and fellow Ford Michael McDowell, all they needed to do was hold on for a great finish.
However, McDowell got a huge run behind the 2 car and when Keselowski tried to dip below Logano for the pass, the 22 tried to block but was too late and both got turned around, Keselowski flying up into the wall and Logano into the grass. McDowell, Austin Dillon, and Chase Elliott managed to get through, with McDowell leading when the yellow flag officially flew, making the race official and McDowell the winner, but the focus was on the carnage behind them as cars piled up in a fiery blaze.
It was a wild finish to a wild day at Daytona, and for McDowell it is a career-defining performance and win for both he and his race team, as he picked up his first career win at the most storied race of them all. For everyone else it’s a tough end to the night, but happily everyone emerged from the wreck relatively unscathed and was released quickly from the infield care center and will move on to the road course at Daytona next week.
The Lakers and Nuggets met for the second time this season on Sunday night, this time in Denver, in a rematch of the 2020 Western Conference Finals.
Once again, it was a highly competitive and well-played game for the first half, but late in the second quarter attention shifted away from the action on the court and to Anthony Davis, who limped off of the court after suffering an apparent lower right leg injury on a drive against Nikola Jokic.
— CJ Fogler Ol’ Steroid Ass #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) February 15, 2021
Jokic was called for a foul on the drive but the contact didn’t seem to be down low as the injury for Davis seemed to occur as he stepped after the contact. Davis would shoot his two free throws and immediately walk to the locker room, grasping at the back of his right ankle, which is obviously concerning given he had recently missed time with Achilles tendonosis in that same leg. Davis said recently that he was going to remain cautious with the injury, not wanting to “play” with an Achilles issue which the Lakers said was not serious, as he sat out two games before returning on Friday night against the Grizzlies.
Hopefully, Davis just tweaked something on the play and it was more of a scare than anything serious, but until official word comes from the Lakers about his status, fans around the NBA will be holding their collective breath it isn’t a significant injury for one of the league’s top stars.
UPDATE: Davis did not return for the start of the second half, but the team had yet to provide an official update. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported he “re-aggravated” his Achilles tendonosis and had swelling, with an MRI to come on Monday.
Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis re-aggravated his right Achilles tendonosis and there’s some swelling, source tells ESPN. He will get an MRI on Monday.
The Spurs social media team, like that of most NBA teams, had some special Valentine’s Day content cooked up for Sunday, as they had players play “Finish The Lyric” with Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together.”
The video is pretty great, but the star of it is sophomore wing Keldon Johnson who is very clearly a big Mariah fan as he belts the song out. Mariah saw the video and found it quite adorable, giving the Spurs a shoutout on Twitter for singing her smash hit.
After the Spurs came back to beat the Hornets in Charlotte on Sunday, Johnson was far more interested in talking about the Mariah post, as he was fired up about getting a shoutout from, who he called, his favorite artist.
Love you someone the way Keldon Johnson loves his Mariah Carey songs.
I love that Keldon made it clear that this isn’t something new for him just for that Valentine’s Day post, and he’s really about that Mariah Carey life, listening to her every day. That was clear from the video because he didn’t miss a word or note, while others like DeMar DeRozan kind of mumbled through it. Johnson had 18 points and eight rebounds in San Antonio’s win on Sunday, and it’s clear that the Spurs need to find a way to get him a shoutout from Mariah more often.
Ted Cruz played a key role in fomenting the events that led to the failed MAGA riot of January 6, which resulted in five deaths and nearly (but not quite) got former president Trump convicted by the Senate. Since then he has not apologized, much less acknowledged what he’d done. Instead he’s gotten repeatedly owned on Twitter, by colleagues and the star of his favorite movie. Or mocked for getting Watchmen wrong. Or belittled for his hair. On Sunday he was at it again, this time humiliating himself by presenting a post from a parody news site as real.
The post was from The Babylon Bee, which for the last five years has presented itself as a conservative Christian alternative to The Onion. Not many believe they’ve achieved their goals. Far from it. But a new Twitter post — linking to a satirical article with the headline “Disney Posts Job Ad Looking For Strong, Fierce Women Who Are Also Obedient, Submissive, And Docile,” an apparent jab at the recent firing of Mandalorian supporting player (and anti-Semitic meme-poster) Gina Carano — was close enough to the truth to fool the senator from Texas.
Many were quick to respectfully inform Cruz that The Babylon Bee is a different kind of fake news.
The Babylon Bee is satire, Ted.
In case you didn’t pick up much vocabulary at Princeton or Harvard, satire is a synonym of parody.
Given you were on the debate team, I’m sure you’re aware.
You really should be looking for a new barber instead of shit posting.
The Blazers and Mavericks met on Sunday evening in Dallas for the first game of ESPN’s Valentine’s Day doubleheader, and while it looked for a bit like Portland would run away and hide, it came down to the final possessions late after a huge fourth quarter run by the Mavs to tie it up late.
It was the superstar duel everyone hoped to see between Luka Doncic and Damian Lillard on Sunday, with Doncic piling up 44 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds, including a big chunk in the Mavs’ fourth quarter run, while Lillard had 34 points and 11 assists as he continues to play sensational basketball to lead the shorthanded Blazers. When it came down to winning time, though, it was Lillard who had the answers late, while Doncic couldn’t quite answer.
After a beautiful Doncic feed to Dorian Finney-Smith for a corner three to tie the game at 116-116, Dame calmly stalked the ball up the floor and worked his way into a stepback three for the lead.
Doncic would get to the basket for a dunk to cut the lead to one, and Dallas opted not to foul with just a three-second differential on the clock and the Blazers were able to work free for a Derrick Jones Jr. dunk with just over six seconds to play to extend the lead back to three. On the Mavs’ final possession, Luka somehow worked himself wide open thanks to some Portland miscommunication, but simply couldn’t sink the open three from the wing to tie the game.
Really nice play by the Mavs and a terrific pass by Finney-Smith to get Doncic an open look from 3. Missed by an inch, if that. pic.twitter.com/oTSB8O16DR
The win moves Portland to 16-10 on the season, holding onto their fifth position in the West ahead of the Spurs and just behind the Suns, both of whom likewise won on Sunday. The Mavs dropped to 13-15 with the loss, as they just can’t quite build consistent winning momentum despite the heroics of Doncic, as they dropped to 10th in the West — behind either Sacramento or Memphis, who play each other. It’s early to be too concerned about seeding, but in a West playoff race where things are so tightly bunched in the middle to bottom, Portland being able to win these games while dealing with injuries is so important. Dallas, meanwhile, can’t get any separation from the pack, and when we arrive at the latter stages of this season, that might doom them to a play-in fate when they had dreams of a top-6 seed entering this season.
Amazon Prime is way more than just a way to get your electronics and books in two days or less. There’s a wide breadth of good movies and TV shows out there to choose from if you know what you’re looking for.
To help you out, we’ve rounded up the 35 best movies on Amazon Prime right now. From new Oscar winners to classic titles, you might be surprised as to what the service has available.
Riz Ahmed stars in this powerful, heartbreaking Amazon original movie from director Darius Marder. Ahmed plays a heavy-metal drummer named Ruben who, along with his girlfriend and the band’s lead singer Lou (Olivia Cooke) hopes to make it big in the music scene. His plans are thrown for a loop when he begins to lose his hearing, putting his life, and his love for music, in jeopardy.
Awkwafina stars in this dramedy from director Lulu Wang that got a fair amount of Oscar buzz this season. The story follows a Chinese family, who discovers their beloved grandmother has only a short time to live. Instead of telling her, they keep the news to themselves, planning a wedding so that everyone can gather to say their goodbyes. It’s a dark comedy to be sure, but it’s given heart by some brilliant performances including Shuzhen Zhao as the central Nai Nai.
Nauseating. Disturbing. A total mindf*ck. Those are all fitting descriptions of Ari Aster’s Hereditary follow-up, a sophomore outing that gleefully embraces the very worst of humanity and shines an unforgiving light on those universal flaws. It’s a horror story, sure, but it’s a relationship drama at its core, flavored with pagan rituals, brutal killings, unsettling imagery, and all-consuming grief. Florence Pugh gives a career-defining performance as Dani, a young woman reeling from a terrible familial tragedy who accompanies her distant, disinterested boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) and his college bros to a small Swedish village to celebrate the summer solstice.
Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment star in this mind-bending drama from Steven Spielberg about a highly-advanced robot on a quest to become real. Osment plays an artificial child named David, given to a human family whose own son is suffering from a rare illness. David is accepted and loved, until the human boy makes a miraculous recovery, becomes jealous of his new “brother” and orchestrates his exile. From there, David goes in search of answers as to what he is and why he was created, a perilous journey that proves eye-opening. Osment is eerily perfect in the starring role and Spielberg injects just enough emotional tension to make us care past the thrill of the hunt for answers in this world that feels alarmingly possible.
An early work of director Sofia Coppola, this film based on a 1993 novel of the same name, follows the story of the Lisbon sisters, five girls aged 13-17 who make a suicide pact after their youngest sibling kills herself. A sense of mystery and aloofness adds to the girls’ appeal when it comes to the neighborhood boys, through whom much of the story is told. Confined to their house after the death of their sister, the girls find ways of communicating with the outside world through secret phone calls and late-night trysts. Eventually, the sisters make good on their pact, but Coppola chooses to find a sense of freedom and validation in their decision to commit suicide, one that paints the end of the film in a strangely victorious light.
Regina King’s first outing as a director comes in the form of this moving drama that imagines a meeting between some of the most influential icons in the Civil Rights Movement. In a room at the Hampton House in February 1964, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke gather to celebrate Ali’s victory over boxer Sonny Liston where they also discuss their own roles in the movement and confront the harsh realities of the Jim Crow Era.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo star in this mystery crime thriller directed by David Fincher. The manhunt for the Zodiac killer — a criminal who committed several murders in the Bay area in the late ’60s and early ’70s — has spawned decades and garnered plenty of media attention, but the film dives deeper into the cost of the search, particularly the toll it’s taken on the men and women reporting on it. Gyllenhaal plays a newspaper cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the case, decoding ciphers sent by the killer and targeting a man he believes could be the Zodiac. Downey Jr. plays a crime reporter who partners with Gyllenhaal on the case and leaks information to the police. It’s a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse fueled by some gripping performances by its male leads.
The mind-boggling success of the Marvel Universe this decade makes it easy to forget it’s humble, fantastically-written origins. We’re talking about the first Avengers team-up, a modest affair in comparison to the universe-spanning, dimension-hopping Endgame, but one that still holds up as a worthy outing for our O.G. heroes. This film marked the first time Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, and Clint Barton shared any real screentime and while most of the fighting is done in-house, the team pulls it together to take on a scheming Loki and his invading army of earth-destroying space monsters in the end.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars in this sci-fi thriller about a woman on the run who must return home to the family she abandoned once word of her supernatural abilities spreads. Mbatha-Raw plays Ruth, a woman whose seizures trigger earthquakes. Her mother and young daughter also have telekinetic abilities and when Ruth comes home to escape a dogged scientist determined to experiment on her, she begins trying to understand her powers with their help while also staying under the radar.
Jimmie Fails plays himself in this semi-autobiographical drama about a young man’s attempts to reclaim his childhood home. Fails and his best friend, Mont (Jonathan Majors), visit the old Victorian house where Fails grew up, only to find it in disarray. When the current tenants find themselves embroiled in a fight for ownership, forced to move out while the battle plays out in court, Jimmy and Mont move in, fixing up the place and fighting to restore some of the neighborhood’s old school charm.
Chris Hemsworth stars in this Whedon creation directed by Drew Goddard that’ll make you wary of ever going on a mountain retreat again. Hemsworth plays one of a group of five friends who head to the woods for some R&R. The remote cabin they stay at quickly becomes a hellish prison they struggle to escape from.
Richard Linklater’s teen cult comedy introduced audiences to a crop of up-and-coming A-listers, and it paired star Matthew McConaughey with a catchphrase that would follow him for the rest of his career. The coming-of-age flick follows a group of Texan teens as they celebrate their last day of high school in 1976. The group of incoming freshman tries to avoid the annual hazing rituals while experiencing high school rites of passage like getting high, fooling around, and vandalizing neighborhood mailboxes with older kids. It’s a quintessential teenage-dirtbag kind of film made better by some outstanding performances and a script with plenty of heart. Ben Affleck, Renee Zellweger, Milla Jovovich, and Adam Goldberg also star in this one.
This cult comedy from director Cameron Crowe has earned a dedicated fan following amongst rock-and-roll lovers. Based on Crowe’s own experiences as an underaged music journalist for Rolling Stone, the film follows a 15-year-old kid named William Miller, who goes on the road with rock band and becomes entangled in their exploits. Billy Crudup and Frances McDormand also star, but it’s Kate Hudson, who plays the magnetic groupie Penny Lane, who really steals the film.
Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning martial arts flick defied the odds to become one of the most influential films in the genre, crossing multicultural barriers and introducing audiences to some great talents in the international acting world. The film follows the story of Li Mu Bai, an accomplished Wudang swordsman who retires his legendary weapon only to be pulled back into a battle with his arch-nemesis, a woman who killed his master years earlier and seeks to claim his sword for her own. There’s more happening plot-wise — Bai has a love interest in another skilled warrior, Yu Shu Lien, and they’re both forced to face off against a Wudang prodigy that’s been studying under their enemy — but the real draw here is the perfectly-mapped-out fight sequences, which include just enough special effect to be awe-inducing, but not too much to distract from the beautiful choreography that Lee puts on display.
James Stewart stars in this holiday flick about a down-on-his-luck businessman who laments his suburban life. George Bailey wishes for a different, more successful life, one unencumbered by a wife and kids but when his wish is granted and an angel shows him what life would be like without him, Bailey must figure out how to make the most of the present. Stewart is magnetic in the role and though it’s thought of as a Christmas classic, this film can and should be enjoyed year-round.
This film by Destin Daniel Cretton (the guy Marvel’s tapped to direct Shang-Chi) marks the first leading role for Brie Larson. Long before her Captain Marvel days, Larson was playing Grace Howard, a young woman navigating life as a supervisor of a group home for troubled teens. Other soon-to-be stars like Lakeith Stanfield and Rami Malek also have a role in this thing but it’s Larson’s vehicle and she’s in full command of it.
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut is a nostalgic ode to growing up in the 90s. The film follows a 13-year-old kid named Stevie who spends one summer in L.A. navigating between his troubled home life and a new group of friends that push to him to test his own boundaries. The movie is heavy in skater culture, a scene L.A. was known for at the time, but it’s also an introspective look on making the transition from boyhood to adulthood, and how perilous that time can be.
Call us jaded, but few movies that are as hyped up as this Rian Johnson whodunnit actually live up to the hype. You’ve got an A-list cast that’s somehow managing to share the screen and carve out singular moments for their characters despite a packed plot. You’ve got a story with twists and turns and darkly comedic gags you could never see coming. And you’ve got Johnson, who managed to make an original film that actually competed with, and surpassed, some established franchises at the box office. Something’s got to be wrong with this movie, right? Wrong. It’s as layered and nuanced and perfect as Chris Evans’ waffle-knit sweater. Enjoy.
Baz Luhrmann’s bohemian rhapsody, set in 1900s France, follows the tale of a struggling writer who falls for a beautiful courtesan. Ewan McGregor plays Christian, a poet with grand ideas on love who move to the Montmarte district to write a novel and truly experience life. A trip to a pleasure theater called the Moulin Rouge introduces him to Satine (Nicole Kidman), a gorgeous performer who’s also caught the eye of a rich duke. Torn between her love for Christian and the trappings of her luxurious life, the pair embark on a forbidden romance that has disastrous consequences for everyone.
The Truman Show was truly ahead of its time when it landed in theaters in 1998. Starring Jim Carrey, the comedy centered on a young man, Truman Burbank, who unknowingly spent his entire life in front of the camera. With Carrey starring, the film had some funny moments, but it’s probably most memorable because of the subversive commentary it offers on our obsession with the intimate details of people’s lives. That and the fact that Carrey, who’s known for his over-the-top, obnoxious comedy style, kept it relatively low-key for most of the film and proved he could really act.
When filmmaker Kurt Kuenne’s childhood friend Andrew Bagby is killed and his suspected killer/ex-girlfriend reveals she’s pregnant, Kurt decides to make a documentary chronicling Andrew’s life. While largely a love letter to a man who touched the lives of many for Zachary, the son he never met, Dear Zachary also tells the starkly bitter side of a broken Canadian legal system that directly endangered a baby. We follow the drawn-out custody battle between Andrew’s parents and Zachary’s mother, interspersed with loving snapshots into the Bagby family. The story sucks you in, but it’s also the at times comedic, fast-paced, and downright enraging documentary style of the film that breaks up the emotional tale.
Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson team up for this comedy that imagines the grit and humor it takes to lead a late-night talk show as a woman. Thompson plays Katherine Newbury, an accomplished TV personality who fears she may lose her talk show because of declining ratings and competition from a younger, male comedian. She hires Molly (Kaling) a comedy writer with little experience to diversify her team, and the two women weather hilarious mishaps and a few scandals to bring the show back on track.
Bill Murray and a terrific Scarlett Johansson star in Sofia Coppola’s Oscar-winning dramedy. Murray plays Bob Harris, an aging movie star who has outlived his time in the spotlight and is finding it hard to move on. Johansson plays Charlotte, a young woman neglected and just a bit lost herself. The two form a quirky, thought-provoking bond that gives some much-needed enlightenment and us the chance to witness the actors’ comedic chemistry first hand.
Shia LaBeouf writes and stars in this semi-autobiographical tale of his time as a child star. Noah Jupe plays the younger version of himself while LaBeouf plays his controlling, often abusive father. The two live in motel rooms in L.A. while Otis (Jupe) works on a popular kids TV show. Their relationship becomes strained as Otis ages, and his dad James (LaBeouf) grows resentful of his son’s success. Lucas Hedges plays an elder Otis, who struggles with all kinds of addictions because of his rough, unconventional upbringing. It’s a tough watch but one that feels refreshingly honest, and you can’t deny LaBeouf’s talent and courage in telling such a raw, intimate story.
Based on a historical crime novel set in Victoria-Era England, Park Chan-wook’s lavish, mesmerizing thriller focuses on two young women fighting to escape oppression by the men in their lives. Chan-woo has traded the stuffy British countryside for Japanese-occupied Korea, telling the stories of Lady Hideko and her handmaiden Sook-hee in three parts, weaving a tale of passion, betrayal, dark secrets, and revenge with grander themes of imperialism, colonial rule, and patriarchal corruption. The two women are the draw of the film with both resorting to illicit, illegal, morally compromising schemes in order to gain their freedom, but love is an unintended consequence that leaves the third act — one you might think you have figured out halfway through the film — completely unpredictable.
Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon drew from their own unusual love story for their script about a Chicago comic named Kumail (Nanjiani) who falls in love with Emily, a woman (Zoe Kazan) who falls into a coma while in the midst of a rift in their relationship created by the expectations of Kumail’s traditional parents. The funny, moving romantic comedy also features strong supporting work from Ray Romano and Holly Hunter as Emily’s parents, who form an awkward bond with Kumail as they wait for Emily’s recovery.
Joaquin Phoenix stars as a troubled hitman with a dark past in this thrilling crime flick from Lynne Ramsay. Phoenix plays Joe, a gun for hire, former military man and FBI agent, who spends most of his time rescuing victims of sex trafficking. He’s recruited to save a Senator’s daughter from a brothel that caters to high-end clientele, but the job thrusts him into the center of a conspiracy that costs him everything and ends in blood and tragedy. It’s a relentless slog to be sure, but it works because Ramsay is more interested in profiling the man, not the hits he makes.
Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe star in this truly bonkers period drama from Robert Eggers. It’s a beautifully shot portrait of two men slowly driven to the brink of insanity by their choice in career — they’re stuck alone on a slab of rock, looking after a crumbling lighthouse. Pattinson masturbates to visions of mermaids, and Dafoe gets drunk and does a jig. To say anything more would be spoiling the fun.
Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet star in this heartbreaking drama about a father trying to save his son from a drug addiction that’s slowly eating away at his family. Carell plays David, a New York Times writer who struggles to help his son Nic (Chalamet) after he falls victim to a worrying drug habit. He has moments of sobriety, attending college, living with his mother in L.A., and working at a drug clinic to help others battling the disease. Yet eventually, his addiction returns, and Nic is powerless to fight it. David is forced to choose between sacrificing his family and his own sanity or continuing to help his son. Both Carell and Chalamet give powerful performances that elevate what essentially is an emotionally restrained look at father-son relationships and the landmines they navigate.
A portrait of a particular moment in music history, when the folk revival found young musicians discovering their voices in old styles and old songs, Inside Llewyn Davis stars Oscar Isaac as a singer/songwriter who can never quite translate his talent into professional success. Joel and Ethan Coen both exactingly recreate early ‘60s New York and use it as the site of one of an affecting tale of the clash between artistic impulses and the needs of the material world, a theme they’d previously explored with Barton Fink and would pick up again with Hail, Caesar!.
Dwayne Johnson and Lena Headey star in this family drama about a pair of siblings with dreams of making it in the WWE. Only one, Florence Pugh’s Saraya, actually makes it, but the road to wrestling stardom is riddled with fake friends, sexism, parental drama, and self-doubt. There’s plenty of great matchups here — body slams, cage matches and the like — but the real draw is Pugh, who completely disappears in the role.
Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton), who’s unwilling and unable to properly care for her troubled son Kevin, watches her life unravel as her husband (John C. Reilly) ignores their problems and Kevin grows more and more sociopathic and violent. The story jumps around in time, showing Swinton’s character as both a new mother who blames her son for ruining her life and as a woman who eventually blames herself for what becomes of her son. Swinton proves once again that she’s the actress that indie movies need for complex characters that live their lives in grey areas. At its core, We Need To Talk is about the importance of proper parenting, communication, and probably therapy. And it’s not for the faint of heart.
Ten years after his last Ocean‘s entry, Steven Soderbergh revisits the heist genre, this time centering on a pair of unlucky brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) working a scheme to rip off a big NASCAR race. Memorable side characters, rapid-fire dialogue, and charismatic performances keep the story from becoming too predictable even for a twist-filled heist tale. Soderbergh was even able to cut out major studios and keep complete creative control over the movie, thanks to streaming services and international distribution. It’s a largely light-hearted movie, and frankly, that’s necessary sometimes.
A mysterious pawnshop owner (Won Bin), whose only friend is a child that lives next door, tears the local criminal presence apart after she’s kidnapped. This South Korean thriller from Lee Jeong-beom follows a similar format to such films as Léon: The Professional and Man On Fire of “guy with a shady past protects little girl”, but The Man From Nowhere still crafts an original tale of a heartbroken man out to save the only thing he has left in this world. The action sequences are bloody and intense, and Bin’s stoic performance brings a painful depth to the brutal savior.
Coherence is one of those low-budget sci-fi stories that is extremely tough to explain without either giving too much away or requiring an extended entry. Essentially, a group of friends sifts through their own issues and insecurities during a mind-bending paradoxical experience. Taking place almost entirely in the same room on a single night, the characters struggle to find answers just as much as the viewer. It’s a challenging yet enthralling film, perfect for those who love to overthink things.
Recent Changes Through February 2021
Removed: 28 Days Later, Erin Brokovich, Cloverfield
Added: Zodiac, Moulin Rouge!, Dazed And Confused
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We actually recorded a 7 minute version of this song 
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to put Portland back on top!
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