Labrinth had a huge gap between his first and second albums: Electronic Earth dropped in 2012, while Imagination & The Misfit Kid came out in 2019. He stayed busy with a bunch of efforts between and since then (like winning an Emmy for his work on Euphoria), and now he returns with more new music.
His latest is “No Ordinary,” as part of Microsoft’s new Xbox Series X and S launch campaign, “Power Your Dreams.” It’s the kind of epic and upbeat track perfect for starting a journey, which makes it perfect for the launch campaign.
Labrinth explained his recent experiences in the music industry in an interview last year, saying, “I didn’t love the music industry much because I felt like it was more about a kind of fame game than it being about music. The way I started out was instantly commercial and instant pop. I had a lot of opinions around me at the time about trying to capitalize on the success I’ve previously had but that was boring to me. I was just like, ‘I want to go and figure out what I actually want to say as an artist, and what I want to create, and what I want to put into the world.’”
The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.
— GLOW was a very good and very fun show. I love good and fun shows and think there should be more of them. Any time one gets canceled — even in a situation like this, where the previously greenlit fourth and final season was scrapped for COVID-related reasons — it bums me out a lot.
— GLOW was a smart show with cool stuff to say about women and work and figuring out how to get through life and becoming an adult and finding your own family when you would otherwise be alone. It did all of these things while also doing a number of very silly professional wrestling scenes. I have, on a number of occasions, mentioned what a sucker I am for shows that dance successfully across that serious/goofy line. GLOW was one of those shows that could make you laugh or tug your heart halfway out of your chest, sometimes in the same episode.
— It is certainly not the most important reason on this list, at least not in the grand scheme of things, but at one point GLOW introduced us to a crappy teen rock band named “Shitpope” whose big showstopper was an anti-Reagan anthem called “Mourning in America,” and the mascara-wearing shirtless lead singer made sure to specify for the audience that it was “mourning with a U.” Also, this guy was in the band and I’m still convinced, even though I know for a fact it’s not true, that he’s a Kyle Mooney character. Any show that does all this should get to end on its own terms.
Netflix
— Between GLOW getting canceled this week and High Fidelity getting canceled by Hulu earlier this summer, it has been a real brutal run for smart and fun shows about women getting cut short for stupid reasons. It’s not even just those two. Netflix killed off Tuca & Bertie, Showtime just shut down On Being a God in Central Florida after one season despite its previous renewal, etc. But those are the two that are sticking with me because I liked them so much.
— Netflix gave Ryan Murphy $100 million to make various shows about murder but they can’t free up enough money to hang onto a cool show about lady wrestlers who care about each other? Get outta here.
— It stinks especially when a streaming service cancels a show because, like, what then? Anytime a network or cable show is canceled, you hear the drumbeat among its fans who hope/beg/plead for it to get “saved” by a streaming service. But when the streaming service is the one doing the canceling, it gets dark fast. The show I can think of that made the streaming-to-cable jump is One Day at a Time, another warm and fun show that Netflix axed after a few seasons.
— In some ways, it seems like the end of an era, even though I should have been smart enough to see this coming. Streaming services started out as this oasis of content where everything just lived peacefully in massive numbers. But that was the first step. What it led to was growth and algorithms and very specific user data information that gave them numbers they could use to make very cold decisions about the products they offer. There’s a future in all of this that I don’t like. At least network executives could sometimes be shamed into keeping a good show around an extra year or two through passionate fans yelling at them about it. This feels more like three accountants looking at a spreadsheet and selecting “delete cells.” Again, I know this is naive of me to pretend like it was going anywhere else, but it still stinks.
— I will miss Alison Brie doing her hilarious Russian accent and flinging herself off the top rope of a wrestling ring.
Not a fan of any of this, frankly.
ITEM NUMBER TWO — Just a fantastic week for movie trailers, really
We have discussed the upcoming holiday movie Fatman before. In fact, I’m pretty sure we discussed it here in this column the week it was announced. I say this not to pull an “I KNEW ABOUT THIS BEFORE THE REST OF THE INTERNET,” because I am juuuuuuust barely not that obnoxious. I say just to state the obvious: the premise of this movie is basically perfect, and was so even when it was only available in text form. Here, look.
The action-comedy directed by Ian and Eshom Nelms centers on a neglected 12-year-old boy (Chance Hurstfield) who hires a highly skilled assassin (Walton Goggins) to take out Chris Cringle (Mel Gibson) after receiving a lump of coal in his stocking. Cringle proves himself a worthy adversary as he is not so jolly or festively plump, and more so skilled in weaponry after being forced into a partnership with the U.S. military to save his declining business.
A child hires a hitman to kill Santa. I could not possibly love it more. And that’s before we get to the part where the hitman is played by the great Walton Goggins and is credited on IMDb as “Skinny Man.” I could maybe do without Mel Gibson as Santa, for reasons that have nothing to do with his performance, which will probably be great because his performances were never the problem. You know the reasons I’m talking about. You’ve heard or at least are familiar with the audio. The pluralization of “reasons” is not a typo. It’s not an ideal situation.
This all comes up now because there is a trailer for Fatman, and it is just about as delightful as its premise. Does it feature a broken and beaten Santa trying to retire before being lured back into some sort of action with one last job? Yes. Does it feature Walton Goggins behaving like a maniac, shouting “FATMAN” at the top of his lungs and all-in-all just being as perfect as one expects Walton Goggins to be when one sees Walton Goggins is playing a hitman who is tasked with killing Santa Claus? Of course. Does it feature a haunting cover of “Jingle Bells” for no clear reason beyond “because that would be hilarious”? Baby, you know it does. I am very much on board for this strange and possibly deranged film. This one and the Dolly Parton Christmas movie I mentioned last week, the one where Christine Baranski fulfills her destiny by becoming a Scrooge-type character in a holiday movie. Yes, I’m aware that the two movies could not be more different once you get past the holiday theme. No, I do not want to examine my excitement about them anymore. Let’s just call it a Christmas miracle and move on.
And when we move on, let’s move on to this: the trailer for The 355, which also dropped this week:
This movie is about a group of lady spies led by Jessica Chastain who are trying to prevent an international incident. Within the first 45 seconds, we have an “I’m putting together a team” moment and a “because you’re the best, that’s why” moment when she tries to recruit Lupita Nyong’o. I have no complaints about any of this and I suspect I will watch this movie 700 times when it makes its eventual appearance in the basic cable rotation. I could easily see TNT running this and The Accountant back-to-back some Friday night. I’ll be in heaven.
ITEM NUMBER THREE — All hail the Chaotic King
The thing not enough people realize about Timothy Olyphant is that he’s a goof. Yes, sure, he looks terrific in a cowboy hat and delivers a witty one-liner as well as anyone. But the man is an unrepentant goof, just as silly as your most childish uncle, right down to the devious smile and the mischievous twinkle in his eye. Perhaps you did know this. Perhaps you’ve seen him yoink entire interviews right of the road in service of a joke. Perhaps you’ve seen him torment late-night hosts who just want to ask him about his latest project. Perhaps you listened to his podcast appearance with Conan, where he kept interrupting the host to read his own entirely fictional advertisements. Timothy Olyphant is the best.
Anyway, you don’t have an excuse to not know about it now, in part because I just told you and in part because you have either seen or should see his appearance via Zoom on Seth Meyers’ show this week. Part one is up there and is a masterclass in sewing chaos, starting right at the beginning when he gets up and goes offscreen to make a drink.
Part two might be even better.
I’ll tell you what I love: I love an actor or actress who treats the whole Hollywood machine with exactly the amount of respect it deserves, which is about *thismuch*. I don’t know if I’d want everyone to behave like this because it might get to be a little much, even for me. But drop it in every now and then to remind everyone that this is all a pretty dumb exercise that we all just decided to accept as normal? Yeah. Heck yeah. Especially if the person doing it has a habit of showing up in cool shows and being cool in them in addition to being a lovable rascal. Real double whammy, this Olyphant guy.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR — I’m sorry but I respect it
20th century fox
Entertainment Weekly’s James Hibberd has written a new book-length oral history of Game of Thrones. Little tidbits are spilling out in the pre-release promo push, from cruel on-set pranks to revealing anecdotes and so on. There will probably be more tidbits in the coming days. People love tidbits. I do, too. In fact, I’d like to tell you about my favorite tidbit to date. It’s this one.
According to Hibberd, the fourth season battle between Pedro Pascal’s Oberyn Martell and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson’s The Mountain was shot in a Croatian amphitheater that overlooked a stable of yachts. A deal was made that each of the yachts would back off a quarter mile so they wouldn’t be in the shoot during filming. “Everybody agreed to do it—except one person,” says director Alex Graves. That person, according to “multiple people working on Thrones,” was Bruce Willis.
My reasons for liking this so much are twofold:
The reveal at the end of the paragraph that it was Bruce Willis made me gasp and cackle for reasons I still do not fully understand
Bruce Willis is behaving exactly like Dennis Frank’s character thinks he’s behaving in Die Hard 2, which has always cracked me up, because hero cop John McClane is telling him about a shooting in his airport and his reaction is all like “Whatever, hotshot” for reasons I also still do not fully understand
It continues, thank heavens.
“[The yacht] circled trying to say, ‘Fuck you, I’m in your shot,’ a couple times and we were all laughing because we were aimed away from the water at that time anyway.” Crew members called the attempted sabotage an act of “yacht rage.”
I’m sorry. I am. But I adore the idea of Bruce Willis sitting on his yacht in a Croatian lake and just deciding on a whim that he’s going to ruin the dragon show for an afternoon. Good for him. And given the way things ended for Game of Thrones, you could make a decent argument that history has vindicated him.
It is funny to picture Dennis Franz as the director he’s tormenting. Just red-faced and shouting at anyone within shouting distance. A fun visual for you to take into your weekend.
ITEM NUMBER FIVE — Book chat
FOX
I read The Dog of the South by Charles Portis this week. I had been meaning to read it for a while because a lot of people whose opinions I respect have spoken highly of it. I’ll tell you what, buddy: they were not wrong. The book is 40 years old and still an absolute blast from beginning to end. It’s beautifully weird, too. It toes that line between nothing happening and so much happening, like a Coen brothers movie. The premise is simple: There’s a guy named Ray and his wife leaves him for a doofus named Dupree and he tracks them both from Arkansas to Central America to find out why and to retrieve his car and personal effects, which they took. But that’s barely what it’s about. The whole thing is one digression after another, furious action building to nothing, anarchy introduced every few pages through new characters with ridiculous opinions about life and the world. A pelican gets struck by lightning. It’s great.
It is also powerfully funny in almost every paragraph, in an offbeat way that made it obvious to me in hindsight that someone like Bill Hader would love it and want to option it for a movie even though it would be an impossible movie to make. From a great piece about the book at The Ringer:
In a quixotic gesture, Hader obtained the film rights to The Dog of the South, fully aware of the virtually impossible challenge of bringing such an elusive and internal-monologue-driven novel to the screen in any recognizable form. “It’s incredibly hard to make it a movie. Part of what makes Portis fun is that you’re sitting at a bar with this unassuming guy and he’s telling you this hysterical story, but if you went home and told that story to your girlfriend or husband, it wouldn’t be as funny because Charles Portis isn’t telling it. Unless he’s sleeping with your girlfriend or husband, I guess.”
Yes, this just about sums it up. What a fun and good book. Go to your library and see if they have it. I bet they do. And they’ll just let you walk out the door with it as long as you promise to bring it back. Some kind of world we got here, man.
READER MAIL
If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.
From Henry:
I remember you saying a while back that The Right Stuff is one of your favorite books. It’s one of my favorites too. I give it as a gift to everyone and have re-read my old paperback copy at least five or six times. I’ve been seeing the commercials for a new series based on the book that’s going to air on Disney+ and I’m getting really excited. Are you getting excited, too? I don’t know many people who have come out and said they enjoyed the book as much as you, so I figured this was the place to come.
My friend, thank you. Both for being a fan of my favorite book ever and for reminding me that I had not done book chat in a while, which is how I ended up doing that section on The Dog of the South. This was a good email.
Unfortunately, this is where I deliver the bad news: The Right Stuff, the TV show is… fine. It’s fine! I imagine people who have not re-read Tom Wolfe’s masterpiece more than once — people unlike you and me — will like it. It’s a pretty straightforward story about the first astronauts and their families and it follows the general trajectory of the book pretty closely. I’ve seen the first few screeners and… yeah. It’s fine. It’s really fine!
What it is not, however, is the same as the book or even the movie. For example, there is no Chuck Yeager. Like, none. Not even a little. He doesn’t show up once. It’s an understandable omission from a storytelling perspective because he never becomes one of the astronauts in that initial program, but still. Come on. The chapter about him in the book — titled, accurately, Yeager — is legendary for a reason. It might be my favorite chapter of any book, and it’s on the shortlist for my favorite piece of writing. It’s weird to consume a project called The Right Stuff based on the book The Right Stuff and not mention Chuck Yeager a single time.
I don’t know. I’ll probably still watch the rest of it. And please don’t let me dissuade you if you were planning to dive in. But be prepared going in that’s it’s not going to be the same as the book. Which is fine. Just maybe less so for you and me, Henry.
A creature from the late Cretaceous period smashed sales records on Tuesday in an auction that also included works by Picasso, Pollock and Monet, leaving auction watchers wondering which anonymous buyer now owned a multimillion-dollar Tyrannosaurus rex.
Okay, yes, this article has my attention. An anonymous buyer purchased a full T-Rex skeleton at an auction. I must know everything about this all at once. Please, continue.
The T. rex skeleton, nicknamed Stan, closed the 20th Century Evening Sale, nearly quadrupling its high estimate of $8 million to bring in $31.8 million, with fees. In the 20-minute bidding war that ended with buyers on the telephone in London and New York, the price rocketed up from a start of $3 million, with the final bid ultimately taken in London by James Hyslop, head of the auction house’s Scientific Instruments, Globes and Natural History department. The buyer has not been identified.
I need to be very clear about something, just so there’s no confusion: It is extremely important to me that someone — you, Harrison Ford, an attractive person in a tuxedo or ball gown, anyone — steals this entire skeleton as soon as possible. I can wait a little bit. A few months, I suspect. We have to figure out who bought it first, and then we have to come up with a plan. I don’t know why I said “we” in that sentence. I am not planning to steal this dinosaur, as far as you or any police officer or insurance investigator knows. But I do want someone to steal it. You can’t possibly imagine the joy I would feel deep in my soul if I wake up one morning and see a news story about some stupid billionaire getting his $30 million dinosaur skeleton stolen. I would shout. And cheer. Out loud. I would read the magazine article about it and watch the movie based on the article that comes out a year later. It is very important to me.
Please. I need this.
Standing 13 feet high and 40 feet long, Stan casts an imposing shadow. Over the last two decades, researchers have theorized that punctures in Stan’s skull and fused neck vertebrae demonstrate that this Tyrannosaur was a warrior, one likely to have survived attacks from his own species. Scientists also estimate that the dinosaur would have weighed nearly 8 tons when it was alive, more than twice the weight of a modern African elephant.
Okay, so it won’t be easy. That’s fine. You don’t just not do something because it’s hard. You figure it out. It’s more rewarding, too. Think about how proud we’ll all be when we steal this freaking dinosaur. Again, I don’t know why I said “we.” It’s almost like I’m planning it out in my head.
The best place to start is defining what makes a good Scottish single malt. That really depends on whom you ask. There are several regions with their own quasi-signature styles (the peatiness of Islay being perhaps the most easily defined) — but even those aren’t monoliths. At the base level, you need a solid matrix of soft loch water, malted barley, ale yeast, old stills, and barreling (sometimes for decades at a time). Each component brings its own special something to the mix. Then there’s the human factor. The malters, coopers, distillers, nosers, warehouse managers, and blenders all have their say in what makes it into the final dram. It’s a hell of a lot to consider.
The ten bottles below are single malts from Scotland that we’ve tried and love. We’ve broken them down by price in $10 increments between $30 and $120. Of course, these picks aren’t the only bottles worth your money at their particular price points. They just happen to be our favorites (at the moment!).
Tomatin Legacy (known as Tomatin Dualchas on the U.S. market) has become recognized as a powerhouse dram at this price point thanks to a gold medal at the 2019 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The Highland juice stands out due to its aging process. It spends time in both ex-bourbon casks and new oak casks before blending into the final product.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a thinness to the nose that entices you towards clear bourbon vanilla and mild cinnamon. Those notes remain as a sweet fruit essence arrives with a fresh ginger spiciness. The end is short but full of that spice, fruit, vanilla, and a hint of Highland malt.
Bottom Line:
This is a solid highball whisky to have your shelf, especially at this price, and even more so if you’re a bourbon drinker looking to get into single malts.
This might be one of Scotland’s best hid secrets. Aberlour Double Cask 12 spends its years mellowing in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. We know, that’s not reinventing the wheel when it comes to Scottish double casks. However, the quality and subtlety of flavors found in this expression are top-notch.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is distinctly full of sweet apple and an almost apple seed earthiness. The taste holds onto that fruit while classic sherry notes of plum, nuts, and a touch of must mingle with a dark chocolate underbelly, especially when water is added. A hint of oaky spice arrives late as the dram embraces more of its apple sweetness and slowly fades out.
Bottom Line:
This is another stellar highball base but works perfectly fine on the rocks too. I also dig this in a cocktail. Think a Rob Roy (which is just a Manhattan with scotch instead of bourbon or rye).
$50 — Old Pulteney 12
Old Pulteney
ABV: 40% Distillery: Pulteney Distillery, Pulteneytown, Highlands Average Price:$52
The Whisky:
This expression from the far north of Scotland is another distinctly unique dram. The whisky is aged in second-fill ex-bourbon barrels that have been air-dried next to the sea. The results make this a very one-of-a-kind whisky that bourbon aficionados will dig.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of warm malts on the nose with a distinct whiff of briny sea air. The sip leans into that seaside feel with a salted caramel svelteness alongside creamy honey spiked with dark spices. That spice carries on with the salty-sweet foundation as a wisp of smoke arrives on the lingering finish.
Bottom Line:
This is an easy on-the-rocks whisky to have around. It also works as a nice sipper with some water, especially if you’re feasting on shellfish.
Speaking of no whisky region of Scotland being a monolith, this Islay expression is an unpeated whisky from a place most famous for its peated whisky. The Classic Laddie is also no-single-thing when it comes to single malt. The barley is all sourced in Scotland with a fair amount coming from Islay. The rest is up to the distiller’s whim and decided while making the batch.
When you snag a bottle, go the Bruichladdich’s website to find out what’s in the bottle, how it was barreled, and so on. We know, it sounds like a gimmick. But the quality of the juice is generally so accessible that we can forgive this particular ploy.
Tasting Notes:
These bottles are dependent on the batch, obviously, but very generally speaking, expect a baseline of Islay florals, sweetened malts, and a flourish of the sea on the nose. The palate will play in a sandbox full of tart fruits, sweet malts, blooming florals, and sea brine.
Bottom Line:
It’s always fun grabbing and bottle and then finding out how it was aged and so forth before you dive in. It’s kind of like unwrapping a present on Christmas morning and being truly surprised and satisfied with what’s inside.
$70 — Talisker 10
Malts.com
ABV: 45.8% Distillery: Talisker Distillery, Carbost, Isle of Skye Average Price:$68
The Whisky:
This entry-level expression from Talisker is also one of their best. The juice is aged in reconstructed ex-bourbon casks for ten years before going into the bottle. It’s an almost-too-easy-to-drink dram that’ll welcome you into the wider world of Talisker’s killer line up of whiskies.
Tasting Notes:
The malted barley dances with dialed-in notes of tart — green fruits up top. The sip keeps the malt foundation as a sweet berry fruit drives towards an echo of smoke laced with sea salt. The warm hug of an end adds a little spicy heat as the fruit and malt fade out.
Bottom Line:
This is a great all-around whisky. It works as a highball base, in cocktails, or a sip on a rainy day.
$80 — The Balvenie Caribbean Cask Aged 14 Years
The Balvenie
ABV: 43% Distillery: Balvenie Distillery, Dufftown, Speyside Average Price:$80
The Whisky:
This whisky — from Scotch whisky icon David Stewart — embraces the barrel finishing he’s credited with creating. Stewart makes his own rum, ages it in oak, and then uses that oak to finish this whisky after it spends over a decade in ex-bourbon casks. The results are a highwater mark in the specialty barrel finished whisky world.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a rum molasses upfront with a cut of berry fruit. The maltiness of the backbone gives way to creamy vanilla, more fruit, and buttery toffee. The taste then edges towards a Caribbean oak mustiness as it lingers on your senses and warms your soul.
Bottom Line:
This is an easy sipper, especially with a little water or a rock. Don’t sleep on mixing this into a cocktail though.
Pronounced “Oog-A-Dal,” this mid-range expression from Ardbeg is easy to fall in love with. The expression is named after the Islay loch where the distillery pulls its water. The juice is then aged in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before it’s married into this peaty single malt expression.
Tasting Notes:
This is a big dram with notes of Christmas spice mingling with smoked plums, wildflowers, and a hint of ripe banana. The fruit and smoke really marry on the palate as a nice rush of spice arrives in the velvety body of the dram. The end is short, full of smoked fruit, and leaves you longing for more.
Bottom Line:
If you love the peat, this is your dram. The smoke isn’t overpowering by any stretch and really mellows with a rock or a few drops of water, allowing the fruity and spicy nature of the sip to emerge.
$100 — Highland Park Twisted Tattoo 16
Highland Park
ABV: 46.7% Distillery: Highland Park Distillery, Kirkwall, Orkney Average Price:$100
The Whisky:
This unique expression combines quality whisky with a great package thanks to Danish tattoo artist Colin Dale. The whisky is a bespoke combination of 153 oak barrels that were seasoned with Spanish Rioja red wine and 70 ex-bourbon barrels. And good news: it’s now available in the U.S.!
Tasting Notes:
Ripe peaches with vanilla creaminess counterpoint mild smoke and tart berries. The palate delivers on the nose with the addition of a red wine oakiness with a twinge of vinous spiciness. The berries, red wine, vanilla, and oak find a little more smoke and a wisp of brine as the sip slowly fades.
Bottom Line:
This is a solid sipper with a little water or a rock. Give it time to bloom and enjoy it slowly.
$110 — Oban Distiller’s Edition
Oban
ABV: 43% Distillery: Oban Distillery, Oban, Highlands (Diageo) Average Price:$110
The Whisky:
This expression is a love letter to the tiny town of Oban on the western coast of Scotland. The juice is finished in Montilla Fino sherry casks to add an extra dimension to the already finely crafted whisky from the distillery.
Tasting Notes:
A small billow of smoke greets you next to notes of sea brine, orange zest, and a hint of vinous fruit. Sweet malts form a foundation with apple, more grape, and toffee building a flavor profile above it. The salty sea comes back late as the sip fades out quickly and boldly with one last hint of smoke.
Bottom Line:
This is a great pairing dram, especially for a seafood feast. It also works as a post-meal snifter, just make sure to let it open up with a little water.
$120 — Aberfeldy 18
Aberfeldy
ABV: 43% Distillery: Aberfeldy Distillery, Aberfeldy, Highlands (Bacardi) Average Price:$120
The Whisky:
This year’s Aberfeldy 18 release embraces Malt Master Stephanie MacLeod’s continuous drive to make better and better whisky every single year. This year’s juice is finished in Pauillac wine casks from Bordeaux. The whisky spends an additional four to five months mellowing in the wine-soaked oak before it’s bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear berry note on the nose that accentuates a mild maltiness, nutty edge, and spicy warmth. The sip embraces the brighter side of those berry notes then veers into a cedarwood and worn leather territory with a distant billow of pipe tobacco smoke. The end is mid-length, full of bright red berries, all that cedar — like a long, warm embrace.
Bottom Line:
This is another sipper that’s too easy to drink. Add a little water to really let it bloom and take your time enjoying this well-rounded dram.
Outside of the obvious blockbusters, the ones where characters return from the dead and Florence Pugh has a Russian accent, a summer 2020 film that I was really excited for was Promising Young Woman. But then… y’know happened. The black-comedy thriller from Killing Eve‘s Emerald Fennell, about Carey Mulligan seeking out revenge against men who take advantage of women, was supposed to come out in April, but it’s finally been given a new release date: December 25 (Merry Christmas?), the same day as Wonder Woman 1984 and One Night in Miami. For now.
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
From visionary director Emerald Fennell (Killing Eve) comes a delicious new take on revenge. Everyone said Cassie (Carey Mulligan) was a promising young woman… until a mysterious event abruptly derailed her future. But nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be: she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night. Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs of the past in this thrilling and wildly entertaining story.
Promising Young Woman also stars Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Sam Richardson, Adam Brody (hopefully giving his best dirtbag performance since Jennifer’s Body), Max Greenfield, and Laverne Cox.
HER is a versatile talent who has been nominated for a ton of Grammys and won a couple of them. She’s a heck of a guitarist, and she flexed her six-string abilities on The Tonight Show yesterday by facing off against Jimmy Fallon in a guitar solo battle.
Appearing virtually and backed by The Roots, HER ran through the solos from “American Woman” by The Guess Who (but more based on the Lenny Kravitz version), “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince, performing them all masterfully. However, it was really more of a bit than an actual contest, as Fallon was tasked with playing “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and “The NBC Chimes.” Needless to say, HER was declared the winner.
HER’s latest Tonight Show appearance comes not too long after her previous one. In February, she joined A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie to perform, appropriately enough, “Me And My Guitar.” She also recently linked up with Jhene Aiko for a charity livestream performance of “B.S.” Meanwhile, not long after former First Lady Michelle Obama launched her Spotify podcast, HER found her way onto an Obama-curated playlist of songs that helped inspire the podcast.
Sean Bean is extraordinarily good at dying. He’s done the deed dozens of times onscreen, but his luck might change on TNT’s Snowpiercer. Well, we shall see if he lives, beginning in January 2021 when Season 2 of the Daveed Diggs-starring series returns. The series quickly proved to be so relentlessly unlike Bong Joon Ho’s film that I had to admire it, even if it felt weird to see the source material (Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette’s graphic novels) get adapted in a Law and Order style. Still, things were missing. Chris Evans muttering “babies taste best” was nowhere to be found, and Mr. Wilford (played by Ed Harris in the movie) was… missing.
Jennifer Connelly’s hospitality chief, Melanie Cavill, gave it her all to keep that secret under wraps. Yet as it turns out, she’d left the train’s genius inventor and mastermind for dead long ago, and he’s now back. And he’s played by Sean Bean! Since Wilford is a key figure (who is alive) in the movie, one would assume that he won’t be dying on the series, and if so, congratulations to Sean Bean for not dying onscreen in a role. Maybe. You never know what this show is gonna do. From the Season 2 synopsis:
Discovering Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) is alive and headed their way on a rival train, Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) risks going outside to prevent him from invading Snowpiercer. While she’s out there, it’s revealed that Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard), Melanie’s daughter, who she thought had died, is alive and has become Wilford’s dedicated protegee. In season two, an entirely new power struggle emerges, causing a dangerous rift as people are divided between their loyalty to Layton and to Mr. Wilford, who has a new train, new technology and a game plan that keeps everyone guessing. While Layton battles Wilford for the soul of Snowpiercer, Melanie leads the charge on a shocking new discovery that could change the fate of humanity.
Bun B spit a pair of menacing verses on Chicago producer’s Boathouse’s “Suckers.” The Trill OG makes his present felt on the haunting, electrohop track, warning that going up against him is like “the Pillsbury doughboy versus Doughboy from Boyz N The Hood, you better go boy.”
Comethazine — “Derek Jeter”
Comethazine plays homage to a baseball legend— and his lungs — on “Derek Jeter,” where he gets rowdy and braggadocious over a ChildBoy production.
DeJ Loaf — “Star” Feat. Dave East & Nicole Bus
DeJ Loaf and Dave East pour out their hearts on the pensive “Star,” the first single from the upcoming True To The Game 2 soundtrack. Def laments, “I got issues, I drink Dusse, to hide all mine,” while Dave calls out a friend who “couldn’t picture what friendship is without no benefits.”
Denzel Curry — “Live From The Abyss”
Denzel Curry is “plannin’ something radical, in the cut so anonymous” on his latest single “Live From The Abyss.” The Florida rapper churns through a caustic instrumental while speaking to the times and giving President Trump some pointed advice.
Junglepussy — “Main Attraction”
Junglepussy is being choosey about her next lover on “Main Attraction,” a smooth single from her upcoming JP4 album that was augmented with a trippy, colorful video.
King Von — “I Am What I Am” Feat Fivio Foreign
Fivio Foreign linked up with this second Chicago rapper in two weeks on the frenetic “I Am What I Am.” Von and Fivio both sound invigorated over mesmeric, 808-based production.
Marlon Craft — “Wherever”
Marlon Craft dropped off the first single from his sophomore album with “Wherever,” a typically-thoughtful track that showcases him passionately rhyming and sarcastically demanding posers to “explain how you free when you ain’t you so I understand properly.”
Papoose — Endangered Species
Papoose is back with his Endangered Species album. The Brooklyn MC is showcasing his spellbinding lyrical gifts throughout the 12-track offering, including the sinister “Kickback” with French Montana and Conway The Machine.
Reason — New Beginnings
Reason dropped his formal TDE debut with the aptly-titled New Beginnings, a confessional lyrical exercise where he shows off his skills over 14 tracks with the help of artists like Vince Staples, Schoolboy Q, Rapsody, Isaiah Rashad, and J.I.D.
Rucci & Shordie Shordie — “Me And My Drugz Pt. 2″
Rucci and Shordie Shordie connect on “Me And My Drugz Pt. 2” which flips Soul 4 Real’s “Candy Rain” classic into a nihilistic ode to the way “sippin drank take away my pain.” They paired the autotune-tinged track with a video showcasing them rapping alongside their crew.
THEY. — “Losing Focus” Feat. Wale
California duo THEY. is set to drop The California Tape this month. They dropped off another single from the project this week with “Losing Focus,” a sleek, distressed track that was ripe for Wale’s contemplative verse where he contends, “We can do a lot by doing absolutely nothing.”
Tristate Gates — “NY Natives” Feat. Benny The Butcher
It’s an empire state connection on “NY Natives,” where Tristate Gates reflects on how “corners get you cornered” and Benny The Butcher gives us a “3AM in Brooklyn” perspective with a closing verse where he proclaims, “I’m still sellin’ verses like capsules.”
YRN Lingo & Takeoff — “All Time High”
YRN Lingo and Takeoff take turns lamenting the phoniness going on in the game on “All Time High.” YRN proclaims, we “can’t let these n****s break us up / they just mad we in a Bentley truck, while Takeoff is “tryna duck the paparazzis.”
YNW BSlime — “One Step” Feat. YNW Melly
YNW BSlime gave his big brother Melly’s fans a treat this week with “One Step.” The breezy, dancehall track showcases BSlime asking his girl “just kick it with me, Karate” and Melly adds a melodic appearance. The precocious video showcases BSlime on a safari alongside an animated version of Melly.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Sometimes a movie sells itself. That is the case for John Bronco.
The mockumentary stars Justified‘s Walton Goggins as John Bronco, the greatest pitchman of all-time, an international sex symbol who appears on cereal boxes, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and movies with Bo Derek. If that premise — and Goggins naked on the hood of a car, playing an acoustic guitar, or Goggins saying, “I’ve always been a wild horse, and I’m always going to be a wild horse, but I’ll always be John… Bronco” with a wink — doesn’t grab you, I don’t know what to say. Live a little?
Directed by Jake Szymanski (7 Days in Hell and Tour de Pharmacy), John Bronco follows the pitchman who, at the height of his fame, disappeared from public life. “Legendary Spokesman. Pop Culture Icon. Global Phenomenon. All words that can be used to describe John Bronco, the original Ford Bronco pitchman who attained celebrity status many years ago before disappearing in 1996. Where did John Bronco go?” a website supporting the film asks. I don’t know the answer to that, but one thing’s for sure: as Bronco says in the trailer above, “When people think of the Ford Bronco… they will always think of one guy in particular. Me, John Bronco.” Yup, no other cultural associations with the Bronco whatsoever.
Released only a few weeks after Radiohead’s Kid A, the topic of last week’s episode, Linkin Park’s debut studio album Hybrid Theory turns 20 this month. It featured four major singles (“One Step Closer,” “In the End,” “Crawling,” and “Papercut”) and has sold 27 million albums worldwide since its release, making it the best-selling debut album since Guns N’ Roses’ 1987 debut Appetite for Destruction, and the single best-selling rock album of the 21st century.
The record’s success marked a transition moment to the mainstream for a type of rock music that was pioneered by bands like Korn and Deftones. With the emergence of nu metal came a through line that Linkin Park was able to capitalize on, one that continues today with Machine Gun Kelly’s new album Tickets To My Downfall, which is currently sitting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. On the new episode of Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen trace the lasting influence of nu metal and big, fun chart-topping rock music.
In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen is singing the praises of Floral Prince, the latest album from Field Medic, while Hyden is hyping “The Shining But Tropical,” a beautiful new single from Wild Pink that previews their upcoming album.
New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 11 below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
In the moments when a hoodie-clad John Oliver accepted Last Week Tonight‘s fifth consecutive Best Variety Talk Series Emmy, he took a few moments to talk about his only “dream” for 2020. Well, his only attainable dream… one would assume that Oliver would like the pandemic to end and for Biden to win the presidency, but there’s no way to see those things happen at the moment. Instead, Oliver put his mind toward achieving the one goal that would make him feel slightly better about this year’s dumpster fire, and that’s having a sewage plant in Danbury, Connecticut named after him.
Well, some dreams do come true. Local ABC affliate WTNH is relaying the good news for Oliver with a statement from Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton: “Congratulations, Mr. Oliver, you now have a poop plant named after you.” The vote was almost unanimous (18 in favor, 1 against, 1 abstaining), and I’m wondering if we’ll hear from the person who officially wanted to poop on Oliver’s impending happiness. In the meantime, Mayor Boughton embraced his city’s sense of humor on Twitter.
The pressure is now on for Oliver to visit (which he will hopefully do when it’s safe to travel again), given that council member Farley Santos told WTNH, “I just want to make sure that we welcome Mr. Oliver to come to the dedication so that he can receive this honor that he’s been so begging for.”
Yes, Oliver has truly been pleading for Danbury to bestow him with this honor. He even fired shots in a mock feud with Mayor Boughton calling the host “full of crap.” Well, Oliver enjoyed that barb, but when he found out that it was only a joke, he opened his wallet and made a $55,000 donation to the city. And as mentioned after the Emmys, he gushed, “My dream this year is to have a sewage plant named after me in Danbury, Connecticut … And I’m close. I feel like I’m real close.”
It’s been a months-long road for Oliver, who declared to the City of Danbury in August, “Listen, I didn’t know that I wanted my name on your sh*t factory… But now that you floated it as an option, it is all that I want.” Congratulations to John Oliver for getting all that he wants, or at least, everything that he could realistically see happen, in 2020.
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