Recently, 19-year-old social media influencer Quenlin Blackwell, who rose to fame on Vine and is now popular on TikTok and other platforms, said in a video, “I live with Diplo right now, and he fully supports my endeavors.” Diplo, who is 41 years old, was asked about the arrangement, and he joked it came about because he has “no other friends.” That led to rumors that something romantic was going on between the two, which they have now both addressed.
In a tweet, Blackwell denied that she was “being groomed” and insisted that her relationship with Diplo is “platonic,” writing, “i’m an adult. i’m not being groomed. platonic relationships exist. i’ve been living here for over a year…i’d rather break both of my legs and be forced to walk than pursue diplo romantically and he’d rather choke. He’s barley in LA be he’s so busy. diplo has given me the opportunity and the security to create. diplo and his team are my mentors in LA and they are my safety net. diplo and his team have saved me numerous times from the weirdos in LA. my parents trust him. i trust him. y’all are making me feel icky. diplo is my LA dad..nothing more.”
A few hours later, Diplo addressed the situation as well, insisting that while he sometimes uses the building where Blackwell lives, he doesn’t live there and is basically just her landlord: “OK so I rent one of my properties to @quenblackwell. And yes I use the studio that is in that building. Her social media is sarcastic and chaotic and I can see you can get a twisted idea but there is nothing but a friendship between us.” He added in another tweet, “As a landlord I don’t really consider age or race as a qualification. U just gotta pay security deposit. And don’t poke holes in the walls or ruin my carpet.”
OK so I rent one of my properties to @quenblackwell. And yes I use the studio that is in that building. Her social media is sarcastic and chaotic and I can see you can get a twisted idea but there is nothing but a friendship between us.
As a landlord I don’t really consider age or race as a qualification. U just gotta pay security deposit. And don’t poke holes in the walls or ruin my carpet
A Twitter user questioned the nature of Diplo and Blackwell’s relationship, asking, “What do you have in common with a 19-year-old that would warrant a friendship, quick.” He responded, “We made music together.” The person wasn’t satisfied with that answer, as they followed up, “At most, that constitutes a working / business junction, so again – what do you have in common with a 19-year-old that would warrant a friendship, as you previously said.” Diplo again responded, “To make music you have to have chemistry to be creative with a person. we didn’t make songs between plexiglass door while on discord.”
This situation led to people resurfacing some of Diplo’s old tweets, including one where he wrote, “girls born in the ’90s i hav to stop sleepin with u.” That tweet was sent in 2010, at which point Diplo would have been 31 and people born between 1990 and 1999 would have been anywhere from 11 to 20 years old. Somebody asked Diplo while he deleted that tweet, to which he responded, “Because it has zeo context now and my girlfriend at the time was 20 and we broke up.”
Because it has zeo context now and my girlfriend at the time was 20 and we broke up. https://t.co/LExiTGSipV
Somebody else noted, “k but several tweets from 2010/11 were waaay too weird. I hope you changed tho,” to which Diplo replied, “Yeh I used Twitter in a very dumb way back then and would not consider anything I wrote credible. Kinda cringe to read it without context.” Another user brought up a 2017 tweet in which Diplo wrote, “Low key sent my cv for r kelly sex cult membership,” and Diplo responded, “This was the year my Twitter was a basically a bad meme account that I didn’t run anymore and didnt care about. I didn’t even have a pw for it. but I obviously don’t want to join a sex cult. And I deleted it when someone sent it to me.. And that’s my final answer.”
Yeh I used Twitter in a very dumb way back then and would not consider anything I wrote credible. Kinda cringe to read it without context https://t.co/rvCXN6R0eE
This was the year my Twitter was a basically a bad meme account that I didn’t run anymore and didnt care about. I didn’t even have a pw for it. but I obviously don’t want to join a sex cult. And I deleted it when someone sent it to me.. And that’s my final answer. https://t.co/NgwT2KCtWi
If Suicide Squad isn’t the worst movie in the DC Extended Universe (an unofficial name, but it’s the one that’s stuck), then it’s the most disappointing. It’s not entirely director David Ayer’s fault, as he claims “the film I made has never been seen” (“It’s exhausting getting your ass kicked for a film that got the Edward Scissorhands treatment”), but there is one thing about Suicide Squad that everyone can agree was a success: the casting.
OK, maybe not the ENTIRE cast, but Margot Robbie is a brilliant Harley Quinn, it was interesting seeing Will Smith play against type, Viola Davis is always great, and Jai Courtney is a fun Captain Boomerang. It’s the biggest compliment James Gunn, who flipped from Marvel to DC to write and direct The Suicide Squad (although don’t worry, he’s returning for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3), gave to his film’s sort-of predecessor.
“Listen, David Ayer’s gotten trouble for the movie. I know it didn’t come out how David wanted it to come out,” Gunn told Empire. “But he did one really, really great thing, and that is he picked fantastic actors to work with, and he dealt with these actors in building their characters in a really deep and fearless way. It’s something David definitely deserves to be lauded for, and it’s definitely added to this movie.” Robbie, Davis, and Courtney, as well as Joel Kinnaman, are returning for The Suicide Squad, along with DC newcomers John Cena, Idris Elba, Taika Waititi, and Steve Agee as a talking shark.
As you’re no doubt aware by now, Borat 2 treated viewers to Sacha Baron Cohen’s most beloved character dunking hard on Rudy Giuliani. In the film, the former NYC mayor reclines on a bed and shoves his hand down his pants while in a hotel room with Borat’s daughter (played by Maria Bakalova), who’s portrayed as 15 years old in the movie. Although there was no indication that Rudy was aware of the character’s age (until Borat burst into the room and exclaimed, “She’s 15, she’s too old for you!”), it’s still a terrible look. In the aftermath, Borat responded to the scene, and Cohen went out-of-character with a very different reaction, but if you were looking forward to what John Oliver had to say on Sunday night, the Last Week Tonight host did not disappoint:
“It says something about Rudy’s character is that the weirdest part of the sentence is ‘Rudy Giuliani got tricked, then shoved his hand down his pants in a hotel room in front of a relative stranger’ is that it doesn’t end at word ‘relative.’”
With that “relative” kicker, Oliver’s talking about how Giuliani’s first marriage (to his second cousin) lasted fourteen years until he reportedly annulled the the union. That’s an additional bit of proof that Giuliani’s not to be regarded as the sharpest pencil in the box, along with Giuliani appearing to think that “Borat” is a real person while lashing out amid the sequel’s release. Rudy also bizarrely tried to blame his compromising hotel behavior on an unverified Hunter Biden conspiracy, as strange as that sounds.
Oliver dug in on that note. The host listed several reasons why Giuliani’s record with fake information is “not great.” And the Borat fiasco collides with Rudy’s deranged Fox News-aired rantings about unsubstantiated reports about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Oliver’s point, naturally, is that Giuliani’s version of reality is not to be trusted: “Any information that Giuliani is passing on should be treated with extreme caution.” Oliver singled out the former NYC mayor’s butt-dialing habit and how he uploaded footage of himself mocking Asian accents as evidence that he’s “technologically illiterate” to an astounding degree. Oliver also details how Trump’s personal attorney has been flagged by U.S. intelligence as being targeted as a conduit for Russian disinformation.
As for what Trump’s calling “laptop from hell” during rallies, Oliver offers an explanation for those “trying to figure out what the f*ck they’re talking about there.” It’s all about supposedly recovered emails and texts from Hunter’s laptop, “But there are a lot of red flags here. Including the fact the NY Post story that broke it was reportedly written mostly a staff reporter who refused to put his name on it and the laptop’s conduit to the press is Rudy Giuliani, who intelligence officials flagged last year to be the target of a Russian intelligence operation to feed misinformation to Trump.”
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Over the past decade and a half, craft brewing has exploded in the US. Currently, there are well over 7,000 breweries in the country and they all need as much support as they can get during the ongoing pandemic. But while we believe that you should patronize as many breweries in your region as possible, you’re bound to have your favorite spots among them and, even more specifically, your favorite beers.
With the spirits and craft beer industry award seasons winding down, we enlisted the help of some of our favorite bartenders and asked for the one craft beer they reach for above all the rest. Check out their answers below.
Stone Xocoveza
Fanny Chu, head bartender at Donna in Brooklyn, New York
Stone Xocoveza. For me, it’s the perfect stout because of its incredible flavor profile which is Mexican hot chocolate, notes of coffee, pasilla peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and loads of chocolate. Perfect for the upcoming season and holidays.
Plus, you can make an incredible flip cocktail with it.
Country Boy Shotgun Wedding
Dante Wheat, bartender and founder of Raw Pineapples in Lousiville, Kentucky
Country Boy Shotgun Wedding. Country Boy’s inclusion of vanilla bean gives them something exceptional in the sea of monotony that brown ales can be. This small infusion adds layers of complexity that extend past malt.
I rarely drink beer anymore, but if I do, it’s typically this one.
Maine Brewing Company’s Pale Ale — or, honestly, any of their brews. MO, Peeper, Lunch, they are just everything I want in a great beer. If I had to just choose one, it would be the Peeper Pale Ale. Balanced hops, fresh, crisp, citrus notes, and that final flavor of just the slightest hint of brioche.
You can always find one of these beers at our rooftop restaurant on tap or by the bottle all year long.
Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale
Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis
Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale has always been a personal favorite. Even within their releases that seem “conventional” they are always just left of center on delivery. This is the one beer I’d drink if you could only drink one.
Ladyface Brewery out of Agoura Hills makes this LA Blonde that’s really nice. It’s light, refreshing, but still complex enough to be interesting. That’s definitely my go-to on a hot summer day, but it works almost as well when it starts to cool off in the fall.
Plus, I’m in LA, so it doesn’t really cool off that much anyway.
Metropolitan Magnetron. The schwarzbier is one of my favorite styles and this is a fantastic chocolatey pouring craft brew. Smoky, rich, and perfect at any time. Especially the fall.
The best American craft beer would have to be the Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA. The floral refresher is always a go-to on a nice day. It’s not too hoppy and is refreshingly juicy every single time.
Ommegang Rare Vos
Roberto Berdecia, bartender at La Factoria in San Juan, Puerto Rico
If I have to choose from the states, I will pick Ommegang Rare Vos (Amber Ale). This beer is very smooth, slightly fruity/hoppy with some spices and sweetness.
Victory Golden Monkey
Nestor Marchand, director of food and beverage at Plunge Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
I could drink Victory Golden Monkey every day. It has a great mouthful of spices and the softness of a blonde beer even though it’s a 9.5 percent Belgian-style tripel ale. It’s spicy, smooth, and perfect for cool fall weather.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Eli Gay, taproom manager at NOLA Brewing in New Orleans
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. More contemporary American pale ales and IPAs all descend from this classic beer. In the early aughts, these styles started to pile on the bittering hops with reckless abandon, losing their malt balance. More recently, bitter hops have fallen out of favor, leaving these traditionally bitter beers more sweet and aromatic. For me, the original American Pale Ale remains king, with an exemplary balance between bracing bitterness, intense aromatics, and toasted caramel malt sweetness.
Writer’s Pick:
Cigar City Jai Alai
This is an impossible question. But if it needs to be answered, one beer immediately comes to mind: Cigar City Jai Alai. This subtly bitter, citrus-filled, juicy IPA is perfect for any time of the year. There’s no wrong time to enjoy a pint of Jai Alai.
Drake turned 34 years old over the weekend, so he decided to celebrate with a private party in Los Angeles that included a meal. Some photos and videos from the event made their way online, including a shot of the alleged menu, which has left some people confused due to one particular item.
Everything appears to be fine for the most part, but it’s towards the bottom of the page that things start to get dicey. The last item listed is macaroni and cheese, but the line below reveals what comes in it: “sun dried tomato, caper, raisin, parsley.”
Drake could have any meal in the world, but raisins IN mac & cheese lands on the birthday menu. pic.twitter.com/7QNK1FpzTu
There aren’t many ingredients that belong in mac and cheese beyond macaroni and cheese, but in Drake’s defense, the item menu directly above the eyebrow-raising mac and cheese, grilled cauliflower, lists the exact same ingredients. So, it seems likely that the issue is just a formatting mistake on the page. Whatever the case may be, the situation has left people confused.
If I went to Drake’s birthday and got Mac n Cheese with raisins in it I’d honestly sue that man.
Meanwhile, menu shenanigans wasn’t all Drake was up to this weekend. Aside from his birthday, the rapper was also celebrating the announcement of his new album’s release date (or at least its approximate release window): Certified Lover Boy is set to drop at some point in January 2021.
After roughly seven years away from our television screens, Showtime’s Dexter is returning for what is expected to be a one-season run. Clyde Phillips, the original showrunner, is running the show again, and he’s promised to give fans a second ending, one that is more satisfying than the original but that does not undo the events of the first finale.
We have our own wish list for the second final season, and it appears that Clyde Phillips will likely follow through on at least one of those elements, bringing back Jennifer Carpenter as Dexter’s new Dark Passenger. He didn’t specifically say as much, but by saying he wouldn’t undo the original finale, he’s saying that he won’t resurrect Jennifer Carpenter’s character, Debra, while also saying (via Us Weekly) that there is “some flexibility to do some movie magic.” That, combined with the fact that Carpenter is promoting the revival on Instagram, certainly suggests that she will return as Dexter’s dark passenger.
However, maybe the most telling piece of news that Clyde Phillips has dropped, so far, is not who will be in the Dexter revival, but where it will be set. Specifically, Phillips said that it will not be set in Miami, the setting for all eight seasons of the original run. Why is this telling? If the setting were in, say, Portland, where Dexter relocated, then how would Angel Batista, Vince Masuka, and Joey Quinn appear? Because there’s really only one logical way to bring back the members of the Miami police department and the three surviving series-long regulars — Batista, Masuka, and Quinn — if the series is not set in Miami.
It has to be a manhunt. Eight, nine, or ten years after staging his death, presumably Dexter continues killing in Oregon (or wherever he might have moved), and this time, Dexter is found out, which leads to a sort of manhunt. And if there is a manhunt for Dexter in Oregon, there’s reason to bring Batista, Masuka, and Quinn back in order to help local police investigate Dexter and track him down, because those three will presumably know more about him than anyone else. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t sympathize with Dexter, particularly if Dexter is caught killing someone who deserves to die. Either of the three could work with local authorites to capture Dexter or help him escape from behind the scenes.
It’s either that, or none of the three return, and the revival brings back only Dexter, Jennifer Carpenter as his Dark Passenger, and maybe Yvonne Strahovski, but it seems like it wouldn’t be much of a Dexter revival without returning some of the characters that made the original series so beloved.
We’ll find out when the ninth (and final) season of Dexter returns in the fall of 2021.
The Seattle Seahawks cannot help themselves but to play in crazy football games. Their commitment to being in wildly competitive games that feature some form of huge swing late — often in their favor but sometimes not — makes them a favorite of the primetime TV schedule makers, particularly Sunday Night Football.
This Sunday night was no different, as they visited the division rival Cardinals in Glendale in a game that saw a few ridiculous plays swing the game back-and-forth in each team’s favor. The first was DK Metcalf chasing down Budda Baker on what should’ve been a pick-six, but resulted in 0 points after the Cardinals failed to get in the end zone on four plays from the six yard-line.
Late in the game, Seattle took a 34-24 advantage on this ridiculous throw and catch from Russell Wilson to Tyler Lockett, the latter of whom surely swung countless fantasy football matchups with his evening.
The Cardinals would march into Seattle territory but stall out, and opt for a Zane Gonzalez field goal to make it a one-possession game, but a Seahawks penalty gave them a first down and allowed Kyler Murray to find Christian Kirk for a touchdown instead.
Wilson and Seattle were unable to put the game away on the ensuing drive, punting the ball back to Arizona with 52 seconds left, and the Cardinals executing a great one-minute drill to set up a game-tying field goal attempt from Gonzalez.
At this point, the game was already wild, but nothing could prepare everyone for what overtime would bring. The Seahawks got the ball first and pushed it to midfield before stalling out thanks to one of the all-time great defensive calls from Vance Joseph on 3rd-and-11, faking an all-out blitz and instead bringing the nickel corner off the edge to sack Wilson.
There were no sacks all game, and then the Cardinals sacked Russell Wilson twice on this OT drive. #SNFpic.twitter.com/fPuzezDtEh
Arizona would get the ball after the punt from Seattle and work it well into Seahawks territory, where Kliff Kingsbury opted to kick the game-winning field goal on second down. Gonzalez knocked it through but the Cardinals had to call timeout to avoid a delay of game, effectively icing their own kicker, who missed the second attempt wide left. Once again, the Seahawks would get to midfield where Russell Wilson got intercepted for the third time in the game on a bad floated pass by rookie Isaiah Simmons, who has been used sparingly by Arizona this year but made a massive play using the athleticism that made him a superstar at Clemson.
From there, the Cardinals would work it into field goal range once again and, this time, Gonzalez was able to knock through the game-winning attempt just before time expired in the 10-minute overtime period.
The win moved Arizona to 5-2 on the season and handed Seattle its first loss of the year, taking down the last undefeated team in the NFC. The NFC West now features four teams above .500 on the year, all within two games of each other, as that division is the polar opposite of the NFC East, and the Seahawks continue their tradition of playing in absurd football games for our enjoyment.
“Thriller” is kind of a catch-all term for movies that bleed into multiple genres. It can describe films rich with drama, action, crime, and quite possibly horror. That’s why its Netflix category is such a hodgepodge of entries, varying in tone, subject matter, and quality. A good thriller, though, is going to be suspenseful for any number of reasons. An unstoppable killer. An unsolvable mystery. A gripping world that draws viewers into it. A sympathetic character fighting for survival. Something that can keep an audience on the edge of its seats. And based on that, here are the 15 best thrillers on Netflix right now.
Writer/director Trey Edward Shults followed up his unnerving family portrait in 2015’s Krisha with a look at another family under the most desperate of circumstances. After an unknown illness has wiped out most of civilization, a number of threats — both seen and unseen — come for a family held up in their home out in the wilderness. It’s a subtle, dream-like tale that stars Joel Edgerton and Christopher Abbot as two patriarchs intent on keeping their families safe, no matter the cost.
What starts out like a Kafka story turns into a tense match between a seemingly innocent man (Hugo Weaving) and a menacing detective with his own demons (Tony Martin). The former is snatched up and interrogated by the authorities for reasons that are slowly revealed to him, and as the hours drag by, both men become more and more desperate. Weaving knocks it out of the park, keeping the detectives and audience guessing as his true demeanor is constantly put in question. Martin is no slouch either as he does his best to expose Weaving’s character for the monster that he sees, even if it costs him his job and sanity. The writing is taut and the environment is claustrophobic, which propels the mysteries behind the two lead characters.
Macon Blair stars in this crime thriller about a man who returns to his hometown to carry out an act of vengeance and discovers he’s in over his head. Blair plays Dwight Evans, a vagabond who learns his parents’ murderer is being released from prison and returns home to kill him. He succeeds but ends up starting a blood feud with the guy’s family that doesn’t end how you expect.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this truly bonkers crime thriller from Dan Gilroy about a con-man who muscles his way into L.A.’s crime journalism scene and very quickly becomes the star of his own reporting. Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) is a petty thief who stumbles his way into the stringer profession — photojournalists who chase crime scenes to sell the footage to local TV stations. As Lou begins to record more exciting crimes, demand for his work grows and he starts staging scenes, obstructing police investigations, and inserting himself in high-speed chases to get the best shot. It’s a twisted, depressing look at the ethics of journalism and the consequences of consumerism, and Gyllenhaal has never been better.
A stone-faced Ryan Gosling steers us through the criminal underworld created by director Nicolas Winding Refn in this high-speed thriller. Gosling plays a near-silent stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway man. When he gets involved with his next-door neighbor and her young son, his carefully cultivated life is thrown into chaos, forcing him to align with criminals and take on risky jobs to protect the pair and keep a firm grip on the wheel.
When a punk rock group accidentally witnesses the aftermath of a murder, they are forced to fight for their lives by the owner of a Nazi bar (Patrick Stewart) and his team. It’s an extremely brutal and violent story, much like the first two features from director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin and Murder Party), but this one is made even tenser by its claustrophobic cat-and-cornered-mouse nature. Once the impending danger kicks in, it doesn’t let up until the very end, driven heavily by Stewart playing against type as a harsh, unforgiving, violent character.
After back-to-back big studio bombs, Karyn Kusama returned to her scrappy indie roots with this contained, brilliantly suspenseful study of the darkness that can arise when people don’t allow themselves to feel. The Invitation isn’t a perfect film, but Kusama does a lot with the scant resources she had to play with here, and you have to appreciate her willingness to tackle grief so directly in a genre that tends to have little time for genuine human emotion.
This Spanish crime thriller follows a successful businessman framed for the murder of his married lover. A seemingly straightforward plot, until a car accident, a dead body, fake witnesses, and a family out for revenge is thrown into the mix. Mario Casas stars as the man in question, a young husband and father with a bright future who takes part in a terrible crime and is forced to pay for it in the most twisted of ways. You won’t figure this thing out until the end, we guarantee it.
Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has quickly earned a reputation for delivering highly-stylized dramas, filled with eccentric characters played by more-than-capable actors looking to reinvent and redefine their careers — and he doesn’t change that with this thriller that’s part horror, part mystery. Colin Farrell plays a charismatic surgeon who, along with his wife Anna (Nicole Kidman), must make a terrible sacrifice when a young boy he’s committed to helping begins displaying some sinister behavior. To say anything more would spoil some plot twists that you’ll definitely enjoy.
Before FX gave us some spectacular follow-up formatted for TV, the Coen brothers introduced us to the cold, weirdly-accented world of murder and cover-up in Fargo, a thriller continues to stand the test of time. The premise is probably familiar by now: a criminal mastermind’s plan goes awry thanks to the ineptitude and bungling of his henchman and the persistence of a dogged policewoman (the unfairly-talented Frances McDormand). Still, it’s worth a rewatch.
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 spanned 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 that’s fueled by some gripping performances by its male leads.
Hannibal Lecter is one of horror’s most iconic characters, but it’s a testament to the creepiness of Anthony Hopkins in a leather muzzle that, no matter how many times the film gets quoted, hearing him tell Clarice Starling that he’s having an old friend for dinner still sends chills up our spines. Jodie Foster plays the FBI agent tasked with catching another serial killer with Lecter’s same M.O., and she does it by striking up unnerving conversations with the guy, but Hopkins is the real star here, playing Lecter with a restrained insanity that makes his small talk of enjoying human liver with fava beans so much more nightmarish.
This gritty crime drama hailing from the Safdie brothers transforms star Robert Pattinson into a bleach-blonde sh*t-stirrer from Queens desperate to break his developmentally disabled brother out of prison. Pattinson plays Connie, a street hustler and bank robber with grand plans to break out of his urban hood while Benny Safdie plays his brother Nick, who gets roped into his schemes. When Nick is sent to Ryker’s Island for a job gone wrong, Connie goes on a downward spiral to get him back. Pattinson’s manic energy carries this thing and there’s plenty of police run-ins, shootouts, and heists (however botched) to keep the adrenaline pumping.
Walking Dead alum Steven Yeun stars this psychological thriller from South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong. Yeun plays Ben, a rich millennial with a mysterious job who connects with a woman named Shin Hae-mi on a trip to Africa. The two journey back home together where Ben meets Shin’s friend/lover Lee Jong-su. The three hang-out regularly, with Lee growing more jealous of Ben’s wealth and privilege while he’s forced to manage his father’s farm when his dad goes to prison. But it’s when Shin disappears, and Lee suspects Ben’s involvement, that things really go off the rails.
Now, audiences can absorb — from the comfort of their own living rooms — the full gravitational effect of Adam Sandler in the most intense performance of his career. The Sandman arguably got robbed of an Oscar nod for his turn in Josh and Benny Safdie’s electrifying crime thriller that accelerates tension to a fever pitch. He’s superb as a charismatic New York City jeweler who grows increasingly desperate while walking a tight-wire amid relentlessly threatening adversaries, and keep your eyes open for a supporting turn from the always great LaKeith Stanfield.
Four episodes in, and The Walking Dead: The World Beyond still does not work particularly well as a stand-alone series, but it does continue to offer intriguing clues and other bits of information concerning CRM and, possibly, the fate of Rick Grimes. This week’s episode featured a two-minute post-credits scene that was by far better than anything in the episode itself.
Briefly on the episode itself: the series continues to tread water much in the same way that The Walking Dead did in its second season, when the characters spent entirely too much going on supply runs. The World Beyond is basically a journey across the country — itself not very interesting — and in this week’s episode, “The Wrong End of a Telescope,” our six characters took a detour to find supplies to aid them on their journey. They stopped by a high school, and spent the entire episode navigating the hallways and classrooms searching for food, eventually successfully finding some food, but not before Silas lost his temper and repeatedly punched a zombie in the face.
Logically, Silas should be infected — how is it possible to punch a walker in the head, face, and mouth over and over without transmitting the virus? — but logic went out the door on this series when the character slept all night beneath clouds of toxic smoke from a tire fire. The episode’s flashback, meanwhile, provided some information about the relationship between Hope and her father, who decided to leave the Campus Colony to help CRM find a cure for zombies. Hope had a very empowering epiphany that encouraged her to continue their journey.
That’s about it for the main episode.
However, the post-credits scene gave us a glimpse into how CRM is trying to find that cure. It’s doing so by testing some sort of compound on test subjects to see if they respond after reanimation. “Test subject displays no detectable response to psychological stimuli. Necrotic plasma and brain fluid are being drawn for further testing,” a scientist eating a sandwich says. “Results are being compared to tests during and immediately following reanimation.”
AMC
What’s perhaps most interesting about the scene, however, is that the scientist refers to the test subject as TSA402, and the next one as Test Subject A403. In other words, the test subjects are As, which answers at least one half of the question we have been wondering for several seasons of The Walking Dead now: What is an ‘A’ andwhat is a ‘B’? The ‘A’s are clearly test subjects, who are being used to help find a cure.
What’s doubly interesting here is that the scientist conducting the experiments has a photo on her desk. Pictured in the photo are herself, Hope’s Dad, the test subject (also a doctor), and an unknown fourth man. Does this mean that doctors are being used as test subjects? Does this also mean that Hope and Iris’ father is in danger?
AMC
Meanwhile, what does it mean for Rick Grimes? Recall, when CRM picked up an ailing Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead, Jadis said to someone in the helicopter pilot of Rick, “I have a B. Not an A. I never had an A. He’s hurt, but he’s strong.” That suggests that Jadis had originally planned on turning someone over to be a test subject for CRM, but — because Rick saved her life — she decided to turn him in as a B, whose life would be saved by CRM. The fact that he is “strong” suggests that Bs are more likely being used as worker/leaders, etc. Bs are someone who can be useful to CRM’s goals while alive.
Unsurprisingly, given that there will be a movie made about him, that suggests that Rick is still alive. The other suggestion may be that the movie will be about Rick’s efforts to dismantle CRM, since it is using healthy individuals as test subjects, which is the sort of evil thing that movies are made about. It may also mean that Elizabeth had everyone in the Campus Colony massacred because she feared it was not the type of community that would stand for testing of this nature.
If we could impart one piece of wisdom with this binge-guide it’s this: don’t sleep on Hulu’s movie line-up. The streaming service may have started as just a way to watch cable TV without actually paying premium prices for the cord but over the years, it’s morphed into a platform with an impressive film catalog. We’re talking prestige originals, blockbusters, inventive comedies, and so much more. We don’t really need to do much more in the way of hyping it up, so we’ll just let you scroll through our picks for the best films on Hulu and leave you with this warning: your watchlist is going to get full real quick.
It’s hard to quantify a film as stylishly inventive and socially aware as Bong Joon Ho’s comedic thriller. There’s a reason this film won so many Oscars. It flits between instilling empathy for a family struggling to crawl out of poverty by increasingly deceptive means and the clueless elite whose house they eventually infiltrate. Bolstered by some terrific performances and a gripping script, the less said about the story, it’s twists and unexpected turns, the better. Just do yourself a favor and watch it.
Barry Jenkins follows up the success of Moonlight with this adaptation of a James Baldwin masterpiece. Told in a nonlinear style, the film recounts the romance of Tish and Fonny, two young Black lovers living in 1970s New York. When Fonny is accused of a heinous crime, Tish and her family fight to prove his innocence. The story is heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time, and Regina King puts in an Oscar-winning performance as Tish’s devoted mother.
This Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary tells the unbelievably inspiring story of Hatidze, a bee-hunter in North Macedonia who represents a dying breed of ecological custodians. Hatidze and her ailing mother live on a remote mountain range, where she peacefully coexists with the bees whose honey is her livelihood, but when new neighbors arrive to disrupt this fragile harmony, Hatidze must fight for her simple way of life. It’s a moving, intimate portrait of an inspiring woman, and a larger commentary on how our greed and ignorance can irreparably damage our surroundings.
As flashy and over-the-top as the sequin-spandex numbers that graced the ice back in the ’80s, I, Tonya manages to straddle a thin line. It’s both a biopic of one of the most notorious female athletes in the history of figure skating and a raucous comedy intent on mocking everything troubling about American culture at the time. Margot Robbie is brilliant in her role-playing a woman tortured by talent and her inability to capitalize on it — and you can literally hear Allison Janney chewing every scene she’s in as Harding’s narcissistic, chain-smoking mother. Plus that parrot bite is as funny as you could hope.
Terrible breakups are a universal experience and Jason Segel manages to tap into the deep yet hilarious insecurity that plagues us all in the aftermath. When he’s dumped by his movie star girlfriend, Peter goes on a vacation (and mild stalking) to forget his sorrows (and also cry a lot). Along the way, he discovers a little self-worth, a new lease on life, and love, because even with the gross-out humor, this is still a romantic comedy. A hilarious cameo from Paul Rudd and a scene-stealing turn from Russell Brand make this a romcom that will pass even the pickiest viewer’s test for the perfect lazy Sunday movie.
Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut is this coming-of-age ode to friendship starring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever. Feldstein plays Molly, a politically ambitious high schooler, who resolves to have one night of teenage fun before graduation. She ropes her best friend Amy (Dever) into her plan, and the two navigate a host of wild mishaps to make it to the biggest party of the year. It’s fun and heartfelt and a surprisingly confident first take from Wilde.
There are forbidden love affairs and then there’s this epic romance from French filmmaker Celine Sciamma. Filled with sexual tension and secret rendevous, this period piece centers on a young painter named Marianne who lives on the island of Brittany and is commissioned to complete a portrait of an aristocratic noblewoman named Heloise before she’s set to be wed. The two women form an intimate bond, one that tests their sense of self and their willingness to sacrifice for love.
Boots Riley’s directorial debut comes courtesy of this dark, absurdist comedy that manages to weave themes of class and capitalism into a bonkers tale about a telemarketer living in Oakland who figures out a way to use his “white voice” to make sales. As he moves up the ladder, selling while hiding his identity, he’s pulled into a conspiracy that forces him to choose between cashing in at humanity’s expense or joining his friends in a rebellion against the system. Lakeith Stanfield gives a riveting turn as Cassius Green, Cash, the kid at the center of this bizarre story, and Tessa Thompson gives a commendable performance as Cash’s radical feminist girlfriend, Detroit.
There are so many worthy entries in The Terminator franchise, but it’s hard not to love the original more than the rest. Arnold Schwarzenegger used the film to cement his action-hero legacy, playing a cyborg assassin simply known as the Terminator, who travels from the future to ’80s Los Angeles to kill a waitress named Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). From there, we learn about Skynet, an artificial intelligence defense network that will soon become self-aware and destroy humanity if Sarah’s unborn son doesn’t stop it. There’s a lot of time-travel jargon to keep up with, but the real thrill of this movie is seeing Hamilton more than hold her own against an eerily-robotic Schwarzenegger.
Adam McKay’s controversial biopic lands on Hulu with its impressive cast of Oscar-winners including Christian Bale, who undergoes a mind-blowing transformation to play former Vice President Dick Cheney. The film follows the build-up to Cheney’s White House appointment, as he gains power first as a Washington insider, then as the man pulling the strings of the Bush administrations. Amy Adams plays his supportive, just as morally compromised wife, Lynne, with Sam Rockwell turning in a hilarious performance as Bush himself.
Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie star in this war drama from Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow. Renner plays William James, a Sargent assigned to a bomb squad during the Iraq War. He puts his fellow soldiers, including Mackie’s Sanborn, on edge with his reckless behavior and careless attitude towards high-risk situations. That maverick attitude ends up backfiring on James and causing tragedy for his crew. Renner shines as the tortured hero and Mackie puts in good service as the man charged with reigning him in.
Viggo Mortensen and Kathryn Han star in this feel-good drama about an unconventional family’s attempts to stay together despite outside forces closing in on their way of life. Mortensen plays Ben, the father to six children all living in a remote, wooded area. The kids keep a strict schedule, learning on their own, surviving in the wild, eschewing traditional schooling and activities for Ben’s regimen, which pushes them to think for themselves and find their own purpose. When Ben and the kids are forced to leave their utopia and interact with estranged family members in the real world, his teachings and their way of life is challenged in surprising ways.
Set during the touring years of The Beatles’ career, from 1962-1966, director Ron Howard crafts an intimate portrayal of the world’s most popular band with the help of both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. Featuring 4K restorations of some of the band’s most memorable concerts, this documentary is a must for any film lover, Beatles fan or otherwise.
Sitting down to interview a vampire, even one as fangishly handsome as Brad Pitt, is a horrifying experience. At least, that’s what we took away from director Neil Jordan’s Anne Rice adaptation. Because this is a film about bloodsucking beings, there’s plenty of grisly murder, lurking in the shadows, and fanged-smiles to fuel your nightmares but the scariest part of this nosferatu epic is watching a baby Kirsten Dunst feast on living human beings and demand more blood.
Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, and Tessa Thompson return for round two of this boxing drama reboot. Still training with Rocky Balboa, Adonis Creed (Jordan) tries to bounce back after a dangerous beatdown, resolving to face off against the son of Viktor Drago, the man who killed his father. The film’s tension is heightened, the hits more violent, and Jordan is as confident as ever in his leading man status.
Ozark breakout Julia Garner stars in this tense #MeToo thriller with Succession’s Matthew Macfayden. Garner plays Jane, a recent college grad who just scored an assistant job at a film production company. When she begins noticing her boss sexually harassing young women around the office, she tries to do something about it and runs into various roadblocks from the higher-ups. It’s a dark, seedy drama and Garner is brilliant in it.
Australian director Jennifer Kent follows up her surprise success, The Babadook, with another dark tale, this time one that follows a young woman on a path of revenge. Aisling Franciosi plays Claire, an Irish convict sent to Tasmania in 1825 who chases a British officer (Sam Claflin) through the wilderness intent on making him pay for the crimes he committed against her and her family. Along the way, she recruits help from an aboriginal tracker and the two navigate racial tensions and prejudice on their quest. Franciosi is magnetic as Claire, a woman who refuses to let the horrible abuses she’s suffered break her and Claflin seems to delight in playing the villain of this story.
Merging high art and science fiction, director Lars Von Trier found inspiration for his story after suffering a depressive episode. Focused on two sisters with a strained relationship, they must now face the reality of a rogue planet set to collide with Earth. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where Kristen Dunst was given the Best Actress Award, and the following year the British Film Institute named it one of the greatest films of all time — a rare honor for any film made in the 21st century.
Tessa Thompson and Lily James deliver magnetic performances in this gritty crime drama from director Nia DaCosta. Thompson plays Ollie, a young woman living in an oil town in North Dakota who starts running drugs across the Canadian border when her mom gets sick. James plays her screw-up sister, Deb, who comes back into her life after their mom’s death with problems of her own. The sisters must find a way to save their childhood home, get Deb the help she needs, and get Ollie out of town before the police and some angry drug dealers catch her. It’s a relentless meat grinder of a film, but it’s also a hell of a watch.
Helping to close out a decade of memorable teen films on a dark note, Heathers is a savagely funny deconstruction of the frivolousness of popular cliques that helped set the tone of many dark comedies that would follow in its wake. The plot involves a popular group of girls known as The Heathers who invite Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) to join them, guaranteeing that she would gain popularity by association. Eventually, Veronica finds herself teaming up with a dangerous sociopath (Christian Slater) in an attempt to break the Heathers’ tyrannical hold on the school.
Loosely based on the ground-breaking manga of the same name, Akira is considered a landmark in Japanese animation, as well as one of the best animated films ever produced. Set in a dystopian future in 2019, a teenager named Tetsuo gains tremendous telekinetic powers after a motorcycle crash, eventually going mad with power before bringing the military-industrial complex to its knees. A live action adaptation has been in the works in some form since 2002, but remains in development purgatory for the time being.
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.
Tom Cruise is joined by Superman himself, Henry Cavill in this latest installment in the action franchise. Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt who leads his IMF team but is joined by Cavill’s CIA Agent, August Walker, who’s tasked with monitoring the group after a mission gone wrong. Hunt is tracking some missing plutonium before a terrorist group called The Apostles can weaponize it against the world but he’s thwarted by a surprising enemy.
The war of the Fyre docs kicked off earlier this year with Hulu releasing their surprise flick just days before Netflix’s planned exposé. Both films rehash the same basic plot: a young entrepreneur scams thousands of millennials and investors out of millions of dollars, but Hulu’s movie takes a closer look the aftermath and damage caused by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule, in addition to interviews and close looks at the events of the Fyre Festival disaster with a critical eye.
Pen15‘s Maya Erskine and ‘ Jack Quaid star in this modern rom-com about a pair of friends, who agree to suffer a summer of wedding invites together. Alice and Ben have been pals since college, but when their mutuals start getting hitched, and they’re left without dates to the happy nuptials, they make a pact to be each others’ “plus one.” What begins as a chance to score free booze and food quickly spirals into a neverending series of interactions that remind them how lonely they both are and force them to confront their hidden attraction.
A charming, unconventional story about what it means to be a family, Hunt for the Wilderpeople follows a juvenile delinquent named Ricky (Julian Dennison), who is adopted by a couple living on a farm in a remote region of New Zealand. After Ricky fakes his suicide and escapes into the bush, his (reluctantly) adopted father Hec (Sam Neill) goes looking for him, and after a series of mishaps, the two are forced to survive in the woods together for months. It was released during SXSW in 2016 (you can read our review here), and after rave reviews from critics the world over, it’s gone on to become the highest-grossing film in New Zealand history.
Before the Tina Feys, Amy Poehlers, and Maya Rudolphs of the world made Saturday Night Live a female-led powerhouse, comedian Gilda Radner starred on the sketch comedy series. She’s an icon, an absolute legend in the world of stand-up, and she played her bigger-than-life characters on the show with a kind of quirky abandon that made you laugh at them and care for them all at once. This doc looks back at her career, her struggles in an industry that wasn’t always accepting of her gender, and her brushes with more serious issues, like illness and eating disorders. Despite those serious topics, it’s a breezy, feel-good watch for comedy lovers of every generation.
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.
This highly-anticipated comedy from SNL alumn and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg feels like a spiritual successor to a Bill Murray classic, a millennial Groundhog’s Day except this story is set in the sunny world of Palm Springs. Samberg’s Nyles meets Sarah (Cristin Milioti) at a wedding, and the two are pulled through a weird portal that causes them to repeat the same day, over, and over again. Honestly, it’s the perfect quarantine watch.
A decidedly unusual twist on the giant monster movie, Nacho Vigolando’s Colossal follows Gloria (Anne Hathaway), an unemployed writer who moves back to her hometown after her boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens) breaks up with her. After moving into her childhood home, Gloria’s heavy drinking starts to take a toll on her before she starts to realize that she may have a significant connection with a towering monster that spontaneously appears over Seoul, South Korea.
Recent Changes Through October 2020:
Removed: The Color Purple, The Shawshank Redemption, A Quiet Place
Added: The Hurt Locker, Interview with a Vampire, Little Woods
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