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It was revealed yesterday that Halsey (as well as Pharrell and Bono) are part of the cast of the upcoming animated film Sing 2. It turns out this is just the start of a flurry of upcoming activity from Halsey, as she revealed in a back-and-forth with her fans on Twitter yesterday.

She told one Twitter user that she has four more reveals to make and “they get progressively more wild.” Somebody else asked if she’s most excited about “secret 2, 3, 4 or 5,” and she replied, “2 because it’s so close! 5 because it’s out of this world.” Another person asked exactly how close “secret 2” is and Halsey spilled the beans, responding, “Two weeks!” She also noted that all of her planned activity is set for 2021 and that next year will be “the most ridiculous year” of her career so far and a “nonstop explosion.” The projects are apparently also “all very different” and some of them are “years in the making.”

She wrapped up the impromptu Q&A by concluding, “different people will gravitate towards different things and (in my opinion) they get better as they go on. im lucky to have a job I love just as much now as when I started, bright eyed with a world of opportunity. GOODNIGHT.”

2020 will be a tough act for Halsey to follow: This year, she, among other things, chatted with Bernie Sanders, became a star of basketball Twitter, and was the year’s first Saturday Night Live musical guest.

Sean Penn knows how to keep things interesting when he’s hopping into news-mode, that’s for sure. Back in 2016, he bizarrely wrote (in Rolling Stone) about his clandestine meeting with El Chapo and passing gas next to the drug lord. His pursuits this year, however, have been much more altruistic, including his efforts to help provide free COVID testing in California. To that end, Penn appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe for a very early interview, and let’s just say that he accurately captured the essence of 2020.

Honestly, the dude nailed it. I like to imagine that he’s silently standing in solidarity with those of us who’ve logged onto an “audio only” Zoom call, only to hear a suggestion to turn on the camera. It’s 2020, man, and Penn’s got more important stuff to do than hair-stuffs. As founder of the Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) non-profit organization, he’s working with Peace Corps members and in conjunction with Los Angeles officials to organize drive-through testing facilities and make sure they’re running smoothly.

So, if Penn decides that looking like a sharp-dressed man is not a priority (at probably 5:30am PST), let the man do what he wants. And honestly, people are embracing the vibe. Let’s face it: we all look like Sean Penn today.

Again, it’s all for a good cause, and there’s no energy left for vanity!

Oh, and the mood would not be complete without Jeff Spicoli references to remind us all of Penn’s Fast Times At Ridgemont High days. Sean Penn is definitely winning the day.

By the way, Penn has seen you tweets, people, and he has responded: “If you think my hair goes wild on Morning Joe when hacked by Russians (allegedly), you should see how much wilder it goes when peeps donate to @COREResponse. You really should:).” See the donation link below.

The NBA season tips off on Tuesday night with a marquee doubleheader before the majority of the league gets going on Wednesday, when the Houston Rockets will begin their 2020-21 campaign. There will be plenty of scrutiny facing the Rockets, who still have James Harden on the roster despite his very well known trade request, and as such body language doctors will be out in full force trying to gauge just how bad the situation is for however long he remains in Houston.

Much like with the Jimmy Butler situation in Minnesota, it also means we are going to get reports of Harden’s discontent in practice, which produced a story on Tuesday morning from The Athletic’s Shams Charania highlighting a number of “verbal confrontations” Harden’s had with teammates, including one that saw him throw a ball at (but not hitting) rookie Jae’Sean Tate on Monday.

Sources say Harden and rookie Jae’Sean Tate had a heated exchange during Monday’s practice, culminating in Harden throwing the ball in Tate’s direction. The ball did not hit Tate. Interactions like these between teammates during practice can be part of a normal, competitive environment. Harden, however, is known by those in the organization as a laid-back and calm personality —especially as superstars go — and some around the franchise are viewing this as rising to an uncharacteristic level of frustration given his ongoing situation.

Is this a sign that he’s going to go full Butler and start berating teammates and trying to beat all the starters with third stringers while calling them all soft? Probably not because, as Shams notes, that’s not Harden’s style, but that he’s even this much on edge seems to indicate that the entire situation is wearing on him more than he’s letting on when he briskly goes through media sessions insisting he’s just focused on playing ball and whatever happens will happen.

I will also say that “throwing the ball in Tate’s direction” might not even have been much of a thing at all, and that the sources in the practice may have embellished a bit — we’ll never know for sure. There’s a fairly big difference between, say, full on loading up and chucking a basketball at someone and flipping it towards them in frustration, and this report doesn’t make that particularly clear (especially since he didn’t even hit Tate with it).

In any case, this is Houston’s new reality for however long Harden remains around. Every single moment of frustration will appear to be much more than just normal, on-court angst and will be representative for many of his overall discontent, which may be true or may be an over reaction. So goes life with a disgruntled star who has lobbied a trade request and we’ll find out when they play the Thunder on Wednesday exactly how much they can set aside differences to get the job done on the court.

In a new interview with Tamron Hall, country mainstays Lady A — formerly known as Lady Antebellum — explain why it took them so long to change their band’s name. They also used the opportunity to address their ongoing feud with veteran blues singer Anita White, who was already using the name Lady A. Band member Charles Kelley told Hall, “I think the word to me that resonates most this year has been ‘blind-spot.’ We came up with the name thinking about the Antebellum home… It’s so naive now looking back.”

Regarding their disagreement with White over the band’s new name, Kelley said, “We’re trying to resolve this issue with Anita and we’re really trying to be a light out there for everybody. And we know it’s going to be tough, it’s a very divisive issue, but it shouldn’t be a divisive issue, it’s just about love.”

The band initially announced the name change in June this year as a response to civil unrest in the wakes of several high-profile police murders of Black Americans. As activists across the nation called for changes in government and business policies to redress the systemic abuse and neglect of Black Americans, the band shared a statement announcing the name change and explaining it in recognizance of the connotations that come along with the word “Antebellum” — namely, slavery and its resultant ill effects on Americans of African descent.

However, they ran into an unexpected complication when it turned out White had been recording under the name for over 20 years — and has the streaming catalog to prove it. The band initially reached out, then sued White over the name in July. White countersued in September, asking for $5 million to compensate for the loss of her stage name and the cost of rebuilding her brand from the ground up, as well as a $5 million donation to promote racial equality. In a statement, White cited the history of erasure of Black artists in genres like jazz and rock, believing that the former Lady Antebellum only wanted to “look ‘woke’ to their fans.”

Watch Lady A(ntebellum)’s interview with Tamron Hall above.

While many are winding down for the holidays this week, there were still a number of hip-swinging best new pop releases that can’t be missed. Diplo teamed up with Leon Bridges for a soulful single, Tayla Parx delivered a slow-burning Christmas tune, and Mike Posner returned with an impactful LP.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Diplo — “Horizon” Feat. Leon Bridges

Though Diplo already had a prolific year between his Major Lazer and Snake Oil LPs, the producer managed to fit in one last collaboration before the end of the year. Teaming up with Texas crooner Leon Bridges, the two released “Horizon” as a fluttering reflection on unrequited love.

Tayla Parx — “Ain’t A Lonely Christmas Song”

Following the release of her shimmering sophomore album Coping Mechanisms, Tayla Parx returns with a heartwarming Christmas anthem. Over a shuffling beat, Parx sings of finally being able to spend the holiday season with the one she loves.

Mike Posner — “Weaponry” Feat. Jessie J

Mike Posner dropped the surprise album Operation: Wake Up this week, a devastating reflection on his father’s brain tumor diagnosis. The LP as a whole confronts themes of isolation, self-loathing, and depression through music and his “Weaponry” track with Jessie J perfectly encapsulates each powerful concept.

AJ Smith — “Confetti”

Armed with a triumphant beat, up-and-coming pop virtuoso AJ Smith shared the feel-good single “Confetti” in anticipation for the new year. “I wrote ‘Confetti’ as an anthem for celebrating those little and big victories,” AJ said about the song. “I produced it with sounds that make me happy in mind.”

Dounia — “F.ck Me Eyes”

Following her 2019 LP The Scandal, New York City-based singer Dounia has been steadily releasing new music and this week, she dropped the sultry melody “F.ck Me Eyes.” Over a sizzling beat, the singer confidently asserts her dominance.

Jxdn — “Better Off Dead”

18-year-old singer-songwriter Jxdn dropped the lovelorn anthem “Better Off Dead,” co-written by pop mainstays Lauv and Blackbear. The song is slated to appear on his upcoming debut album Tell Me About Tomorrow and is woven with early aughts pop punk influences.

Noga Erez — “End Of The Road” Feat. Audrey Nuna

Tel Aviv-based artist Noga Erez is teasing a new era of music following her attention-catching debut album Off The Radar. Joining with rising rapper and fashion icon Audrey Nuna, the two deliver the playful and powerful anthem “End Of The Road.”

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

Today, Donald Trump is expected to sign the $900 billion stimulus bill into law, and this is fantastic news for music venues across the country: The bill actually includes the Save Our Stages Act, which was introduced by Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota this summer. On Monday, Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement noting the bill includes “$15 billion in dedicated funding for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions.” $10 billion of that will go to live music venues and promoters.

Klobuchar spoke about bill with Rolling Stone and said that she is pleased with how it turned out, saying, “One of the things that will go down when people look back at how we saved the music and wouldn’t let it die, was that this was such a bipartisan effort and it was reflected in the fan base because it went from country music to rap to classical. And it really did bring out the best in America in terms of what I consider one of the icons of our country culturally, but also one of our best economic drivers. And so it was that combination that we always knew existed in our country, but always gets pigeonholed into one area or another, and we were able to combine it.”

She also spoke about why she thinks Save Our Stages had such bipartisan support, saying:

“I think that through the horror of this pandemic and all the tears and tragedy, people embraced music and culture more and more. But they were just alone doing it on their computers and their phones, and they want it back. They want that sense of community. So I think there was not only an obvious economic turn; no one can dispute it. Everyone knows their hometown theaters are closed down.

Secondly, the emotional value of it you cannot take away. And the fact that people like different kinds of music, but they’re united in liking music. So we were able to get on that. Senator Cornyn and I have led a number of bills successfully — on totally different topics — and I think that helps. We were on the same page the whole time … The Save Our Stages group was really smart about never giving up. There was a certain hope to it. And we had a lot of out-of-work musicians and a lot of creative people, so they were very creative about how they approach this. And it never got mean. It was all done in a very positive way from the beginning.”

Klobuchar also explained how venue owners can secure funding, saying, “So what you do is apply to the Small Business Administration and explain what your revenues were in 2019. And you have certain criteria of which you can apply. So we kind of know what our universe is here. They have to have how many seats, the lighting, etc. You’d apply in a very straightforward way and then the money goes out after that once it’s granted by the Small Business Administration.”

Read the full Rolling Stone interview here.

In a year in which everything feels like a stripped-down, streaming-only release, George Clooney returns with, arguably, his most ambitious film yet. Clooney’s output as a director has varied widely, from critically acclaimed successes (2002’s Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, from a script by Charlie Kaufman) to execrable screwball (Leatherheads in 2008, Monuments Men in 2014). Yet his movies thus far have all been, to some extent, the kinds of movies you expect an actor to direct — ensemble pieces, heavy on the hijinks and earnest monologues. Things that a “George Clooney type” might be good at, say.

In The Midnight Sky, adapted from the novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton, Clooney gives us something much closer to Gravity or Interstellar: emotional sci-fi, in which thrilling space action meets mournful family drama. About the worst you could say about Midnight Sky is that it’s derivative of some of the past decade’s glut of space dramas — the aforementioned, plus First Man, Ad Astra, The Martian, Lucy In The Sky, Arrival, the show Away, etc. No one goes to space without at least one broken promise to a child on their mind, it seems (usually a dead child).

All that being said, controversial take warning: there should be more space movies. Much like submarine movies, I will take your poorly plotted, your tired, your muddled space movies, yearning to seem deep; more is still better. One could do a lot worse than a “just okay” space movie, and George Clooney’s previous output as a director mostly bears that out.

The Midnight Sky opens in 2049, three weeks after “the event,” according to the title cards. I’m fairly certain another dystopian movie has already used those exact words to yadda yadda the cataclysm it was also set in the aftermath of, but I don’t remember which. In any case, our protagonist is George Clooney, hidden underneath a woolly grey beard and hacking up hairballs to telegraph a terminal disease (characters in movies almost never conspicuously cough except as a way to communicate a portentous disease). While the rest of humanity has packed off to underground bases somewhere, Clooney’s character, who we eventually find out is a scientist named Augustine Lofthouse, has stayed behind at the Barbeau Observatory in the Arctic Circle.

We gather that he’s in this observatory all alone, having chosen to stay behind to keep from dying from whatever illness he has. And in order to continue to monitor… the midnight sky (finish your drink). What’s out there? A spaceship called the Aether, returning to Earth from an expedition to a possibly-habitable moon of Jupiter, and out of contact long enough not to know about “the event” and the world becoming an uninhabitable sewer. Aboard the ship are a murderer’s row of marvelous actors we all expect from a Clooney movie, including Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Demian Bichir, Coach Taylor, and Tiffany Boone, playing a cabal of unrealistically good-looking astronauts.

At least, Augustine thinks he’s all alone. He’s soon joined by a stowaway, a mute seven or eight-year-old girl, who always seems curiously well-groomed for a child who has supposedly been without an adult guardian for weeks. And so, all of the story elements are in place. Someone needs to contact the Aether and tell them to turn back, but the only people on Earth in a position to do so are a terminally-ill mountain man and a girl who apparently can’t speak.

One could argue that perhaps some of the ensuing action set pieces are distinctly reminiscent of other movies, especially Gravity, but the derivativeness of them doesn’t make them any less exciting. Clooney gives the space action (and the Earth action) drama and suspense, as well as punch, something even seasoned action directors often fail to do.

Many of The Midnight Sky‘s plot contrivances are transparently contrivances, in that distinctly Hollywood way. But they’re never in service of the usual, saccharine Hollywood feel-good. The Midnight Sky is much more melancholy than that. And even if the Sad Childless Astronaut is something of an overdone trope at this point, you still have to give The Midnight Sky credit for its execution. Terminally-ill-scientist-and-his-mute-sidekick-on-an-arctic-outpost-trying-to-warn-a-spaceship-away-from-a-ruined-Earth is a pretty clever premise. If you’re going to contrive, contrive well.

In the end, how much you come away enjoying The Midnight Sky will probably come down to how much the final twist makes you groan. While The Midnight Sky‘s final reveal is not a movie-justifying revelation on the level of, say “Verbal Kint was Keyser Soze” or “Bruce Willis was dead the whole time,” it is reasonably surprising and holds up as believable in retrospect (which is to say, it doesn’t “cheat”).

Admittedly, it also doesn’t make the movie better or feel all that necessary. In that sense, I suppose its final twist is more like “Edward Norton was Tyler Durden the whole time.” I.e., a twist that doesn’t really add much and leaves you on a slightly sour note but doesn’t ruin the otherwise good movie that came before it.

However you slice it, The Midnight Sky is still a hell of a lot better than Monuments Men.

‘The Midnight Sky’ hits Netflix on December 23rd. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

Eddie Murphy starred in a sequel to Beverly Hills Cop three years after the original blockbuster came out (and a third film after that). He waited a bit longer to return to 48 Hrs. in Another 48 Hrs., but not much longer (eight years). But for whatever reason, it took 33 years to get Coming 2 America, the much-anticipated sequel to Coming to America, one of the legendary actor’s funniest early hits. The wait was worth it, however, if only for the title alone. Sometimes the most obvious option (of course Coming to America 2 is called Coming 2 America) is the best option. It also helps that much of the original cast is back, including Murphy as Prince Akeem, Arsenio Hall as Semmi, James Earl Jones as King Jaffe, Shari Headley as Lisa, and Paul Bates as Oha.

In Coming 2 America, Akeem returns to Queens, New York, with an initially-reluctant Semmi at his side, after learning that he has a son. Here’s more:

Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, newly-crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi (Arsenio Hall) embark on an all-new hilarious adventure that has them traversing the globe from their great African nation to the borough of Queens, New York – where it all began

Coming 2 America, which also stars Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne, Shari Headley, and Teyana Taylor, premieres on Amazon Prime Video on March 5.

Despite all evidence confirming that Joe Biden won the presidential election and COVID cases surging all over the nation, Donald Trump is becoming increasingly unhinged in his efforts to stave off reality and taking it out on everyone around around him. According to a new report from Axios, Trump is reportedly lashing out at “anyone who refuses to indulge conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election.” That list now includes Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose loyalty to Trump has been waning. “If you’re not in the ‘use the Department of Homeland Security or the military to impound voting machines’ camp, the president considers you weak and beneath contempt,” a source tells Axios.

Trump is particularly irked at that vice president, thanks to a new Lincoln Project ad that claims Pence is “backing away” from Trump. The ad reportedly rattled Trump who has expressed to others that if Pence does his constitutional duty and validates the election results on January 6, it would be the “ultimate betrayal.”

You can see the Lincoln Project ad below:

As for McConnell, Trump has started privately attacking the majority leader for “being the first one off the ship” by acknowledging that Biden won the election. According to Axios, Trump sent out a bizarre PowerPoint presentation where the president takes credit for McConnell’s re-election. The slideshow serves as a threat to others who don’t back Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, which now includes entertaining General Mike Flynn’s suggestion to deploy the military on American soil and “rerun the election.” In other words, a coup.

Trump is also considering appointing Sidney “The Kraken” Powell as special counsel to investigate the election, despite the fact that Trump had her removed from his legal team in late November for spouting conspiracy theories that were too crazy even for him.

(Via Axios)

Most of us try our best to forget about death on a moment-by-moment basis, but that’s been hard to do in 2020.

Some of us have lost loved ones to the pandemic or gotten sick ourselves. The lucky who haven’t have still been forced to think about the disease’s staggering and, as the year ends, still-multiplying death toll. Even riding out the pandemic indoors can prompt the sort of morbid reflection we often try to avoid. Spending time inside constructively by tidying up inevitably means encountering reminders of those we’ve lost and the unceasing march of time.

Filmmaker — or, to use her preferred term, cameraperson — Kirsten Johnson has become a professional sorter of memories. A veteran documentary cinematographer, Johnson’s career has taken her all over the world and made her witness to moments both horrific and inspiring. As a director, she made a breakthrough feature in 2016 called, naturally, Cameraperson, which uses outtakes and other stray moments to create a sense of meaning around her life and work. It is, effectively, a creative act of reflective tidying up that tries to make sense of the past from the odds and ends that have piled up over the years.

Johnson followed up Cameraperson with one of 2020’s best films, Dick Johnson is Dead, a touching and determinedly odd portrait of her father made as he slips into dementia and the pair, together, confront his inevitable end. The film covers approximately three years in the Johnsons’ life during which Dick, his condition worsening to the point where he can no longer be left alone, leaves his Seattle home and psychiatric practice to live in Kirsten’s one-bedroom New York City apartment. They prepare for his death by staging it, again and again, as a series of stuntman-assisted movie-ready mishaps in which Dick appears to die by falling air conditioner, car accident, and otherwise reaches sudden, dire ends. But there’s a happy ending to these deaths via scenes of Dick’s afterlife, a gloriously gauche Heaven inspired by Dick’s life, his Seventh Day Adventist faith, and Lisa Frank art.

If that sounds tacky, or even insensitive, it doesn’t play that way. As Uproxx’s Vince Mancini pointed out in his review, the film finds a roundabout way to talking about, and reframing, topics we generally avoid talking about because “[g]ood art doesn’t just reaffirm that a thing exists, it gives you a new framework for thinking about it.” It’s nothing new for Dick. Having watched his wife slip away to dementia, he knows what awaits him and wants to make the most of the time he has left. If that means working with his daughter to use art as a kind of offbeat therapy, then so be it.

2020 has been a year that’s required everyone not locked in a bubble of denial to think about final things, a year in which, say, a quick, masked trip to the drug store probably doesn’t mean risking death for you or those around you, but who knows? It’s been a year that’s taken away much of what makes life fulfilling, be it the company of others, going to the movies, hearing music played live, or just being able to walk down the street without fearing the consequences. It’s also meant watching businesses shutter and streets empty out as the disease reshapes everyday life.

It has, in a word, sucked. But it’s also made it easier to appreciate the necessity of films like Dick Johnson is Dead and creators who refuse to look away from death and loss — and especially those who create art about living in its presence. It’s not always easy. Anyone looking for a double feature to pair with Dick Johnson is Dead should consider another 2020 film, Relic. The first feature directed by Australian filmmaker Natalie Erika James, from a script by James and Christian White, Relic uses horror to explore some of the same subjects as Johnson’s film. It’s a deeply unsettling haunted house film, of sorts, that ultimately arrives at the same sense of peaceful resignation as Dick Johnson is Dead.

Emily Mortimer stars as Kay, who travels with her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) to the home of her mother Kay’s mother Edna (Robyn Nevin) after Edna disappears. There they find the house in disarray and littered with notes seemingly designed to help Edna remember everyday tasks (and possibly a supernatural threat). When Edna returns, the crisis only deepens as her dementia makes her subject to wild mood swings and uncharacteristic behavior, a descent echoed by the house itself. Like Dick Johnson is Dead, Relic would feel exploitative if it wasn’t so well done. It’s ultimately less Edna’s condition that serves as the source of horror than the fear it inspires. The film’s final sequence is at once disturbing, humane, and truthful about what awaits us as one generation gives way to the next.

The years that come will see film after film about 2020. Many will be angry, as they should be. It’s been a year filled with manipulation, willful misinformation, and policy decisions deeply concerned with the well-being of a privileged few rather than the public at large. Many of our losses have been avoidable even if the pandemic itself never was. Others will be reflective of our shared experience living through a plague year. We’ve been through a crisis whose end may be in sight but it isn’t here yet. When it arrives it will be to a country scarred by what it’s been through. But even though it has nothing directly to do with 2020, Dick Johnson is Dead already looks like one of the year’s defining films. We’ve been forced to confront death in a way most years spare us. It’s been awful, but there’s something to be gained by not looking away from death and by considering what it means for those we’ve lost, those we love but know we’ll lose sooner than we’d like, and to the living, who sometimes need to be reminded what it means to be alive and that we won’t stay that way forever.