Most of the Halloween binge-guides you’ll find around this time of year will be filled with hauntings and demonic possessions and Swedish cults but not this one.
No, Disney+ isn’t where you go to have the sh*t scared out of you, it’s where you go for more lighthearted, Halloween-themed fun. For witches and talking cats, for skeleton kings and Boogeymen under the bed. It’s where you go for a bit of nostalgia to remind you of the joy of the holiday — joy that might spook you a bit, but it won’t leave you with nightmares afterwards.
Here are our picks for the best Halloween movies on Disney+ right now.
Few Disney films about a trio of bumbling witches have influenced the cultural lexicon like Hocus Pocus. Sure, no other Disney films about sister witches terrorizing a sleepy New England town on All Hallow’s Eve actually exist, but that doesn’t diminish the legacy of this ’90s film starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. All three women are having the time of their lives here, playing the Sanderson sisters, a group of supernaturally powerful beings, who are summoned when an out-of-town virgin lights a cursed candle. Their goal is to suck the life from all the children in Salem and live forever, and honestly, they’re such a good time, it’s hard not to root for them to succeed.
Angelina Jolie stars in this retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It’s not strictly a Halloween-themed, but it does center on a vengeful fairy who curses an infant and then stalks her into puberty. Jolie plays the titular character, a supernatural being betrayed by fickle humans who wants revenge. Her plan to get it: by harming the child of the man who wronged her, starts to fall apart when she begins to care for the young girl (played by Elle Fanning). There’s an otherness to Jolie’s performance — and her prosthetics — that gives the movie its darker moments.
This animated interpretation of classical music is all kinds of weird, which is why it feels like an appropriate watch this month. There are a handful of scenes that surprise with just how creepy they feel, whether it’s Mickey Mouse as a sorcerer’s apprentice who can’t control his magic, fairies, and mythological creatures having tame orgies in the woods, or a devil summoning spirits to the top of a mountain. It’s certainly one of the strangest, oddly-mesmerizing watches on the streaming service.
No self-respecting Halloween lover wouldn’t have this made for TV movie on their binge-watch list this month. The late, great Debbie Reynolds plays a grandmother witch raising her teen granddaughter, who discovers she too has powers and is fated to save Halloweentown from dark forces. It’s a classic Disney Channel creation — lots of cheesy dialogue and a few noticeable plotholes — but damn if it doesn’t hold up all these years later.
Eddie Murphy stars in this early aughts family-friendly thriller, playing an out-of-touch dad who has a run-in with some malevolent spirits. Murphy’s Jim Evers is a busy real estate mogul who doesn’t have time for his wife and two kids, until the family is summoned to a haunted mansion and held hostage by evil forces inside. While trying to escape, he’ll learn about the importance of the relationships he’s neglected in his life. It’s the closest thing Disney will get to a The Conjuring movie, but grown-ups will appreciate the comedy Murphy brings to this.
This movie is a staple of every 90s kids’ childhood, but we’re still a bit confused as to its genre. Is it a Christmas flick? An animated ode to Halloween? Something in between? That third option is most likely. Created by Tim Burton, who has a degree in crafting genre-bending movies with gothic settings and spooky characters, the film follows Jack Skellington, the king of Halloweentown who tries to bring Christmas to his village of ghouls, ghosts, and ghastly monsters.
Tia and Tamera Mowry play twin witches in this Disney Channel favorite based on a popular book series. Alex and Camryn are twins separated at birth and raised by their adoptive families. They meet on their 21st birthdays, discovering they’re the daughters of powerful witches and that they’re destined to save their magical homeland from an evil darkness terrorizing its people. It’s basically Sister, Sister, but with magic and it’s terrific.
Another Disney Channel creation, this ’90s movie capitalizes on the one fear every kid has growing up: the Boogeyman lurking under the bed. Francis is a teen girl who’s wiser than her years; she teams up with an imaginary boy named Larry Houdini to take care of a Boogeyman framing her for his attacks and pranks around town. She ends up discovering the Boogeyman’s origins, but not before she survives some spooky situations, loses a few friendships, and causes her parents to think she’s gone off the deep end.
After multiple delays, Reason finally shared his new album New Beginnings earlier this month. It found the Del Amo rapper showing off his impressive song-making abilities more than two years after he gained attention with There You Have It. Now he’s back with a new video for the song “Favorite N***a.”
Eerie and sinister, it begins with Reason washing blood off of his hands and peeling at loose pieces of skin on his face. He soon departs towards the city. Along the way he stops at a deserted location and pops the trunk, revealing a lifeless body. The video closes with Reason digging up a grave then departing to grab an early morning shot of liquor at a nearby bar.
Soon after New Beginnings arrived, Reason revealed TDE went through “a weird time” earlier this year and explained why he collaborated with multiple acts from TDE on the new album. “New Beginnings is the first TDE drop, and I gave n****s the Q verse, I gave n****s two Soul verses, I tried to get diverse and gave you an Isaiah verse with JID,” he said. “I did that because even though the label’s going through a weird time, that we’re coming out of now, I still believe in this sh*t, and I’m still holding that flag.”
Check out the “Favorite N***a” video above.
New Beginnings is out now via Top Dawg Entertainment. Get it here.
Smokey and the Bandit was the second biggest hit of 1977, after Star Wars, and not by much. Almost as many people flocked to the space opera about rebels taking on an evil galactic empire as they did the one where good ol’ boy Burt Reynolds simply drives cars real fast, a goofy grin on his face from start to finish. You might be surprised the learn which one Alfred Hitchcock thought was a masterpiece. Despite a handful of derivative sequels, Smokey never had the world building ambition of Star Wars, and the franchise has laid dormant since the early ‘80s. But that’s about to change.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Smokey is getting revived — and, as is the style of the time, as a TV show. The reboot comes is a kind a tag team effort, combining the forces of David Gordon Green and Danny McBride — who revived another late ’70s genre blockbuster, Halloween, two years back — and Seth MacFarlane, who will serve as executive producer. (Green will write alongside frequent collaborator Brian Sides while McBride will join MacFarlane as executive producer.)
Of course, it’ll be hard to fill the shoes of Burt Reynolds, who died two years ago and who gave perhaps his most relaxed and giddy turn as Smokey, a bootlegger paid a ton of money to smuggle a truckload of Coors across state lines, back when it was illegal for the beer to be sold east of Oklahoma. That part may need to be changed, but no big whoop: Green and company will simply have to find another flimsy excuse to get a redneck hero giving chase to a bunch of bumbling cops. In fact, if any time was ripe for a movie that delights in police driving their cars into ditches and swamps, usually in glorious slo-mo, it’s now.
Exactly two months ago, Nas shared his thirteenth album, King’s Disease,which was executive produced by Hit-Boy and featured guest appearances from ASAP Ferg, Fivio Foreign, Lil Durk, Anderson .Paak, and more. Now Nas returns with a new video for the song “Replace Me,” which finds himself, Big Sean, Don Toliver, and Hit-Boy appearing as the memories of an ex-lover.
It starts with an unnamed woman opening a photo album. Many of its pages are filled with Don Toliver, who sings an infectious chorus before Nas steps in for his verse. As the video goes on, the pages are filled with Nas and the woman, and eventually Big Sean, who rattles off his part of the song while holding a rose.
The “Replace Me” video joins “Ultra Black” and “Spicy” as tracks from King’s Disease that have received the music video treatment. Nas also recently joined Statik Selektah, Joey Badass, and Gary Clark Jr. for their new record “Keep It Moving.”
The video arrives after Hit-Boy, who produced “Replace Me,” said that he hopes to produce future projects for Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar. “If I can get an album with Kendrick or get an album with Jay-Z that would be lovely,” Hit-Boy said on a September episode of The Bootleg Kev Podcast.
Things didn’t go as planned for the Los Angeles Clippers during the restart in Orlando. After pulling off one of the biggest free agency coups in recent memory to land both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, they were the heavy favorites to come out of the West this season.
Instead, they once again failed to make the conference finals, despite boasting one of the deepest rosters (on paper, at least) in the league. Under Doc Rivers, the Clippers were never able to get out of the second round, making his departure earlier this month pretty much a foregone conclusion.
Rivers’ top assistant Tyronn Lue is now stepping in to fill that vacancy on a long-term contract, armed with the unmitigated support of bombastic owner Steve Ballmer. Here’s what Ballmer had to say about his new head coach during Lue’s introductory Zoom conference.
“We had to get the best of the best, and the best of the best is Ty Lue,” Ballmer said.
Ballmer, of course, is famous for his unbridled enthusiasm, so he can be forgiven for exaggerating a bit in order to boost Lue’s confidence. There’s certainly no questioning his pedigree or his experience managing superstars and their egos. After taking over for David Blatt in Cleveland, Lue was able to help keep LeBron, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love on the same page for the Cavs’ 2016 title run.
But Lue’s experience without LeBron on his roster has certainly become a talking point. As a head coach, Lue is just 1-18 without LeBron and was dismissed after starting the 2018-2019 season 0-6 with the Cavs (albeit, few have fared well in Cleveland without LeBron in the wine and gold). Now, he faces the challenge of managing another enigmatic superstar in Kawhi Leonard, an under-performing sidekick in Paul George, and a roster that never quite coalesced last season.
Lue will get the chance to prove his mettle once again as a head coach in the NBA, even if the proclamations from his team’s owner are a little over-exaggerated.
It’s official: the NWSL’s newest expansion team will be sticking with the name Angel City Football Club. The Los Angeles-based franchise was first announced by the league in July, with a star-studded ownership group that includes Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman and the club’s president, Julie Uhrman. Serena Williams, her husband and co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, and their three-year-old daughter, also are investors in the group.
On Wednesday, the team was formally recognized by the league and announced even more investors, with tennis legend Billie Jean King, WNBA champion Candace Parker — and her 11-year-old daughter, Lailaa — and U.S. Olympic gold medalist skier Lindsey Vonn and her fiancé, NHL star P.K. Subban, joining the group, among others. Mia Hamm and 13 other former USWNT players representing the region are also investors in the club.
The team also announced some new front office hires for their community relations and soccer operations divisions in addition to underscoring their focus on community-driven efforts in Southern California. In the coming months, an official crest design and stadium to play in will be at the top of the to-do list for the new club.
“We could not be more pleased to have reached this exciting milestone of officially joining the league and introducing the world to Angel City Football Club,” said Julie Uhrman, ACFC Founder and President, in a team statement. “I am also thrilled to announce some additional founding investors who have already been contributing meaningfully to the Angel City Family. This group, aligned in our passion and purpose, is committed to delivering for Los Angeles and our fans on and off the pitch.”
Angel City FC joins the WNBA’s Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream as the few professional women’s sports teams that have majority-women ownership groups. As reported by Lindsay Gibbs of Power Plays, the Storm’s three co-owners are former Olympic rower Ginny Gilder and former Microsoft executives Dawn Trudeau and Lisa Brummel, who celebrated Seattle’s fourth WNBA championship earlier this month. The Dream — the only other all-woman ownership group in the WNBA — is owned by Mary Brock and Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler, currently involved in a contentious Georgia Senate race, has created controversy this year for her conservative views and attacks on her own players for their social justice initiatives.
Founded in 2012, the NWSL is the longest-running professional women’s soccer league in U.S. history. Following their first-ever Challenge Cup this summer, the first successful attempt at bringing professional sports back amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the NWSL received a jolt in fan interest in expanding the number of teams from its nine active ones. In October 2019, the league announced the formation of Racing Louisville FC, which will compete in the 2021 season. Angel City FC will begin play in 2022.
“On behalf of the NWSL and our member clubs, we are thrilled to officially welcome Angel City Football Club, and this exciting and committed ownership group, to the league,” said NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird in the release. “The soccer community in Southern California is filled with passionate fans of the game and I can’t wait to see them rally around their own team and help us continue to grow the NWSL.”
2 Chainz originally planned to released his sixth album, So Help Me God, in last month but sample clearances stopped the “No Lie” rapper from doing so. He stopped by Complex to share an update on the upcoming album as well as his plans for future projects.
After revealing that the album will now arrive on October 30, the rapper was asked about rumors about Kanye West’s involvement on the production side.
“Actually, he wanted to do the whole project, but I’m dealing with trying to get out of my contract with Def Jam,” 2 Chainz responded. “He’s still going to produce an album for me, and we’re still going back and forth, but it’s just the time of me wanting to put it out and be done, because he has a thousand things going on in his place.” Still, 2 Chainz revealed that Kanye does have “something to do with this project,” but declined to share any details. However, he did say, “let it be known that it’s going to happen, whether it’s this next project or the one after. It’s a whole Tity Boi and Kanye West project, produced by Kanye. Let’s just say that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, 2 Chainz revealed that his album Collegrove 2, with Lil Wayne, will touch down soon, saying fans should stay tuned for its release “if not the end of this year, definitely the top of next year.”
Remember when we had a president we didn’t hear about every day? Even as his former vice president, Joe Biden, has formally sought his old gig, former commander-in-chief Barack Obama has stayed relatively (though certainly not entirely) quiet. Perhaps he didn’t want to steal Biden’s thunder. Or perhaps he just wanted to carry on being someone who’s not constantly everywhere. But on Wednesday he made an exception.
The 44th president was in Philadelphia for a drive-in rally, not only to support his two-time running mate but to deliver a fierce rebuke to his successor. And though he’s been reluctant to attack Trump in the past, this time he pulled no punches, characterizing him as “incapable of taking the job seriously.” And that only scratches the surface of what Obama had to say about him.
“I never thought Donald Trump would embrace my vision or continue my polices, but I did hope for the sake of the country, that he might show some interest in taking the job seriously,” Obama told the crowd. “But it hasn’t happened. He hasn’t showed any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself and his friends.” He even chastised Trump for ruining the great economy he’d left him, saying, “just like everything else he inherited, he messed it up.”
Obama reserved particular ire for Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in over 220,000 American deaths, with no end in sight. He referenced an interview in which, when asked what he would do differently, Trump said “not much.”
“Really? Not much?” Obama said. “Nothing you can think of that could have helped some people keep their loved ones alive?”
Obama’s appearance came soon after it was reported that Trump had a secret Chinese bank account, and the he paid more in taxes there than he did back home. Obama bristled at the double-standard, that the man who followed him gets away with things he never would have had he done them — which he wouldn’t have.
“Listen, can you imagine if I had had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for reelection?” Obama asked the crowd. “You think Fox News might have been a little concerned about that? They would have called me Beijing Barry.”
But perhaps Obama’s most convincing argument for why one shouldn’t vote for Trump was this: Biden is, compared to Trump, and no insult intended, pretty boring. “It just won’t be so exhausting,” Obama said, adding that voters are “not going to have to think about the crazy things … and that is worth a lot.”
You can watch Obama’s full speech in the video above.
Along with its slate of Emmy-nominated TV series, Netflix continues to churn out high-quality feature-length content as of late. The streaming platform has been building a deep well when it comes to film, filling it with everything from period dramas and millennial romcoms to quirky biopics, sci-fi love stories, and enthralling deep-dive documentaries. Plus, more Breaking Bad. In other words, if you thought TV was the only thing the binge-heavy subscription service had to offer, think again.
We’ve sifted through a slew of titles to pick the cream of the crop when it comes to Netflix’s original lineup so make sure you have some space in your queue. These films deserve to be there. You can find the more recent picks up top.
Aaron Sorkin’s star-studded courtroom drama is finally here, and besides carrying some serious Oscar buzz, it’s also delivering a handful of ridiculously good performances from its impressive cast. That cast includes everyone from Succession’s Jeremy Strong to Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Eddie Redmayne, and Watchmen breakout Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The film follows the true story of a group of anti-Vietnam war protesters charged with conspiracy counts and inciting riots during a demonstration at the 1968 Democratic Convention. We heard that Strong asked Sorkin to tear-gas him for this thing so, yeah, it should be an intense watch.
This time-hopping drama set in the backwoods of West Virginia is basically an excuse for director Antonio Campos to assemble his own Avengers-style squad of Hollywood A-listers. Seriously, everyone’s in this movie: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen, Sebastian Stan, Mia Wasikowska, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Haley Bennett, that kid who played Dudley in the Harry Potter franchise. The whole gang’s living in shacks and picking up hitchhikers, only to murder them later and speaking in tongues and falling victim to generational trauma. It’s a heavy watch, and there’s not really a happy ending, but boy does Pattinson deliver a batsh*t crazy turn as a perverted preacher.
Charlie Kaufman’s latest film is based on a book of the same name and stars Chernobyl’s Jessie Buckley as a young woman meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time, which normally would be a happy event except she’s secretly been planning to break up the with the guy. That guy is Jesse Plemons, who seems to be in everything these days, and along with Toni Collette and David Thewlis who play his parents, they make for hellish dinner mates. There’s a sinister vibe permeating everything about this straightforward plot, so if you think you know how this ends, let us be the first to tell you: you don’t have a clue.
Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams take on the planet’s most-watched singing competition with this campy comedy about an Icelandic duo named Fire Saga, who are set on achieving glory on the world’s biggest stage. Ferrell and McAdams play Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir, artists chosen to represent their nation in the Eurovision Song Contest, a real competition that features musicians from all over the world, who are often performing in wild get-ups. Dan Stevens almost steals the show while Pierce Brosnan and Demi Lovato make appearances. We’re calling it now: “Volcano Man” is going to be a bop for the ages.
Noah Baumbach’s star-studded divorce drama is pure Oscar bait, but in the best way. The film takes a look at messy breakups with Scarlett Johansson playing an actress and mother named Nicole, who is intent on separating from her stage director husband Charlie (Adam Driver). Laura Dern and Ray Liotta play their hard-hitting lawyers, who don’t help in diffusing the tension and resentment building between the pair when Nicole moves herself and their son across the country. It’s an intimate look at the emotional wreckage of a divorce and the struggle to put a family back together again, and it’s carried by some brilliant performances by Driver and Johansson.
Any Spike Lee joint is worth a watch, but this genre-bending thriller about a group of black Vietnam War vets returning to the battlefield decades later feels especially timely. That’s because Lee manages to shed light on a little-known part of our shared history: the way our country treated Black soldiers returning from the war, but he also raises the stakes with a subplot that includes a buried treasure hunt and a heartwrenching mission to retrieve the remains of a fallen comrade. The cast, which includes Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman, is brilliant, the story is gripping, and you’ll probably be seeing more talk of it come awards season, so go ahead and watch it now.
If you want to get a sense of the sheer volume of quality movies Netflix has been delivering recently, this sports drama is the perfect case study. It’s a film directed by an Oscar-winning filmmaker (Steven Soderbergh), written by another Oscar-winner (Moonlight’s Tarell Alvin McCraney), and starring a cast that includes Andre Holland, Zazie Beetz, and Zachary Quinto, and it’s one of the more underrated flicks on the streaming site. Well, no more. This movie — which follows a sports agent (Holland) as he tries to pull off a daring plan during an NBA lockout — has finally jumped onto everyone’s radar. At least, everyone who checks out this list.
Timothee Chalamet is everywhere right now so really, are you that surprised he’s playing a boyish, rebellious King Henry V in this big-budget Shakespeare adaptation from Joel Edgerton? Chalamet and his bowl-cut bring Hal to life, the wayward prince forced to assume the throne after his father’s death. Hal has to grow up quickly to lead his men into battle against a bloodthirsty French foe (Robert Pattinson having too much fun with his overdramatic accent) and preserve England’s reign. It’s all medieval warfare and political intrigue and it’s held up by Chalamet who stands out — even amongst a stellar supporting cast.
Martin Scorsese delivers another cinematic triumph, this time for Netflix and with the help of some familiar faces. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up (again) for this crime drama based on actual events. De Niro plays Frank Sheeran a World War II vet who finds work as a hitman for the mob. Pacino plays notorious Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, a man who frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and the criminals he worked with. The film charts the pair’s partnership over the years while injecting some historical milestones for context. It’s heavy and impressively cast and everything you’d expect a Scorsese passion-project to be.
Oscar-winning writer/director Alfonso Cuaron delivers what may be his most personal film to date. The stunningly-shot black-and-white film is an ode to Cuaron’s childhood and a love letter to the women who raised him. Following the journey of a domestic worker in Mexico City named Cleo, the movie interweaves tales of personal tragedy and triumph amidst a backdrop of political upheaval and unrest.
Netflix spent much of 2017 trying to establish itself as an alternative to movie theaters as a place to find quality new films. The results were mostly strong, and none stronger than Mudbound, Dee Rees’ story of two families — one white and one black — sharing the same Mississippi land in the years before and after World War II. Rees combines stunning images, compelling storytelling, and the work of a fine cast (that includes Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan, Garett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, and Mary J. Blige) to unspool a complex tale about the forces the connect black and white Americans and the slow-to-die injustices that keep them apart.
It’s hard not to like a guy as talented and charismatic as Idris Elba but the actor plays a morally-corrupt psychopath to perfection in Beasts of No Nation. As the Commandant, Elba recruits young boys to his rebel army fighting the government of Ghana by forcing them to undergo a brutal initiation process. Agu, a young boy who saw his father and older brother murdered at the hands of the government, is captured and indoctrinated into the Commandant’s army, suffering through terrible torture, both physical and psychological, before he eventually escapes.
Bong Joon-Ho’s send-up of corporate farming and environmental abuses isn’t subtle. Tilda Swinton goes all-out as the CEO of an evil corporation, only to be outdone by Jake Gyllenhaal’s broad turn as an unstable TV host. But its tale of an endearing, genetically modified “super pig” and the girl who loves him is effective and contains both some terrific action set pieces and the most affecting child/strange beast relationship this side of E.T.
The basic gist of this follow-up to Vince Gilligan’s beloved TV show is that it picks up right after the events of the series finale, with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) on the run and looking a bit worse for wear. He seeks shelter with Skinny Pete and Badger, long enough for a shower and a shave, before heading off to confront the people who destroyed his life. To give anything more away would be to spoil the excellent work that Gilligan and Paul put into this thing.
The Coen brothers are back with a slick new Western romp, one that serves as an ode to all of the tropes present in Hollywood’s best Wild West adaptations. Split into six parts, each story is loosely connected although thematically and tonally different. Tim Blake Nelson stars as the titular hero, a sharpshooting songster who takes part in the film’s opening musical portion. From there, we get stories of outlaws getting their due, prospectors mining for gold, ghostly hauntings, and wagon trails. Forget trying to follow the thread and simply enjoy the ride with this one.
Paul Rudd is at his most charming and charismatic here. He plays a newly trained caregiver to a distant teenager with muscular dystrophy named Trevor. After some ice breaking, the two set out on a trip to see some of the most boring roadside attractions middle America has to offer. If you’re feeling down, this one will pick you up.
Plus… it’s Paul Rudd. That dude is always a ray of sunshine.
Noah Baumbach’s star-studded divorce drama takes a look at messy breakups with Scarlett Johansson playing an actress and mother named Nicole, who is intent on separating from her stage director husband Charlie (Adam Driver). Laura Dern and Ray Liotta play their hard-hitting lawyers, who don’t help in diffusing the tension and resentment building between the pair when Nicole moves herself and their son across the country. It’s an intimate look at the emotional wreckage of a divorce and the struggle to put a family back together again, and it’s carried by some brilliant performances by Driver and Johansson.
Netflix’s original flick is being hailed as the best teen rom-com of the decade and for good reason. The story stars Lana Condor as Lara Jean Covey, a junior in high school who tends to write her crushes love letters but never actually send them. After those same letters are anonymously sent, she’s forced to do damage control by carrying on a fake relationship with one of her former love interests. It’s a sweet, oddly empowering twist on the classic rom-com trope, and you won’t be able to scroll through Twitter without coming across a Peter Kavinsky stan account, thanks to this one.
Ali Wong and Randall Park star in the latest rom-com from Netflix. This time around, the plot follows two childhood sweethearts who’ve spent the last 15 years apart and try to reconnect when one moves back home. Wong plays a successful chef opening a new restaurant in San Francisco while Park plays her former best friend still living at home and working for his dad. Both have some growing up to do, but the film eschews classic romcom tropes for bits that are funnier and more poignant than your average lighthearted fare.
Sandra Bullock’s apocalyptic sci-fi saga has spawned more than just a ridiculous internet challenge, it’s also renewed our love for monster-driven thrillers. Sure, we never actually see the otherworldly beings that cause people to commit suicide if they open their eyes, but the danger they pose and the fear they instill is still viscerally real. Bullock plays a mother trying to protect her two young children and survive amidst a group of strangers with their own agendas and issues. The supporting cast in this one — Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Tom Hollander — are fantastic, which distracts from some of the more questionable story choices.
Anyone who caught Jessica Williams during her tenure on The Daily Show knows that she’s destined for greatness. Despite being so young, she had a confidence, a voice, and a commanding presence that you just can’t fake. The Incredible Jessica James is her first starring vehicle since her time as a correspondent, and it is a true testament to where she’s headed. In a clever look at the life of a struggling playwright who is getting over a breakup, The Incredible Jessica James allows Williams to unleash her fire in the most charming way possible, and she and Chris O’Dowd have an easy chemistry that makes you root for them to make it despite not having a thing in common. Having just come out last year, The Incredible Jessica James is still one of the best comedy movies Netflix has delivered.
Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti star in this dramedy about a middle-aged couple trying desperately to have a baby. Hahn plays Rachel, Giamatti her husband, Richard. The two undergo all kind of in vitro treatments in order to get pregnant but quickly realize the process is draining on their marriage and their intimacy as a couple. When their 25-year-old niece comes to stay with them, they’re forced to re-think the idea of having children of their own and dig into what’s really fueling their desire for offspring. Hahn is brilliant as usual, but she finally gets the starring vehicle she deserves, and Giamatti is her capable screen partner. What’s really refreshing about this film, though, is its refusal to treat a subject that’s been overdramatized so much on screen with kid gloves, instead giving us a funny, heartbreaking look at infertility that feels much more real than any sappy tearjerker.
Eddie Murphy stages a bit of a comeback in this biopic about famed comedian, actor, showman Rudy Ray Moore, better known as Dolemite to fans of his raunchy comedy albums, stand-up tours, and blaxploitation films. Murphy plays Moore at the beginning of his career when he was just a record store clerk looking to break out in the business. He’s joined by a cast that includes Keegan-Michael Key, Ron Cephas Jones, Tituss Burgess, and others, but it’s Murphy who shines here, giving possibly the best performance of his career as a man who will stop at nothing to pursue his dream.
Last week, Verzuz announced that the show would soon return for its second season, following a strong first season filled with thrilling battles between some of the most popular names in hip-hop, R&B, gospel, and other genres. While it remains to be seen who will be invited for the next season, Busta Rhymes has been eyeing a spot on the show against T.I. However, the latter isn’t so willing to commit to a duel.
T.I. responds to Busta Rhymes and said he won’t do a #Verzuz battle with him because of a “generational gap” pic.twitter.com/t6cheJAcPp
In a recent interview with Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes called out T.I. to battle him, saying, “I’m begging you to step in the ring with me. I’mma bust your ass.” T.I. subsequently took to Instagram Live to decline the challenge. “I didn’t know that we were reaching back through generations,” T.I. said on the livestream. “That’s a huge generational gap there isn’t it? And I have a huge amount of respect for you, exponential amount of respect for you, I can’t — you dig what I’m saying?” He also added, “I can’t call out Rakim… I f*ck with you bro, I f*ck with you, you know what I’m saying? It ain’t no disrespect at all. Y’all wouldn’t put Brandy up against Dion Warwick. You can’t put Brandy against Dion Warwick.”
While the battle between T.I. and Busta Rhymes may be a no-go, the former may shift his attention back to 50 Cent, who he originally asked to battle him on Verzuz.
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This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
