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My personal feeling is that ranking a director’s movies is a bit like debating the best meal of the day. Sometimes you want some eggs, sometimes you want cake; it kind of depends on what you’re in the mood for.

That being said, we’re talking movies, on the internet. The internet was built to host pointless debates and movies were meant to inspire them. If we wanted definitive answers at the end we could just watch sports. People say choosing your favorite of a beloved director’s films is like choosing a favorite child. I say that’s true, and also that deep down every parent has a favorite child. We all have our personal truths; to pretend otherwise would be a lie. In that spirit, these are my truths. Disavow me as you see fit (please don’t. I want your clicks and your respect).

A Note On Methodology

One question you have to answer when ranking Christopher Nolan movies is, are we talking about the films when they were released, or now? Christopher Nolan is one of our most influential directors, usually for better but occasionally for worse, and basically any technique he pioneered or used conspicuously since The Dark Knight has been mimicked by worse filmmakers with diminishing returns. Which has a way of cheapening the original slightly in hindsight, mostly through no fault of the original. Remember how ubiquitous the “BRAAAAAHM” sound effect was, post Inception? Remember bad guys getting caught on purpose after The Dark Knight?

I don’t have a time machine so I’ll be judging these movies on 2020 rules. It’s more interesting that way. Some of the movies I loved initially seem less interesting now, and vice versa. Aside from that, these movies’ evolution over time is also a product of the way Christopher Nolan approaches movies. Inasmuch as he likes to project “bookish, cerebral Englishman,” he’s also a showman (and I suspect looking like an intellectual is part of that show). He made his bones on flashy technique (becoming a hot commodity after Memento) and that kind of flashy storytelling is part of his identity. It’s hard to watch The Prestige and not see a bit of Nolan in Hugh Jackman’s character — meticulous, obsessive, intelligent, but also the guy who likes to be up on stage taking a bow at the end of the show.

“Technically innovative” and “gimmicky” are always two sides of the same coin, the former always bleeding into the latter depending on the charitability of the beholder. As such, virtually all of his movies have some choices I find brilliant and others I find slightly annoying. But his willingness to take that chance is part of the reason his movies are still must-see releases even after 10 or 11 of them. I like when he takes big swings. In hindsight I find myself appreciating the boldest moves even if they didn’t entirely payoff. In any case, if you find yourself disagreeing with me a lot here you’re probably just reading it wrong.

10. Following (1998)

I debated even including Following in this list, considering Nolan was still an unknown when it was released (and after as well). Costing just $6,000 to make, earning a little more than $48,000 at the box office, and clocking in at a barely-feature eligible but very nice 69 minutes, Following seems more resume builder than stand-alone Nolan film, his self-financed cover letter to studios that might one day give him money to make a feature. Please, Mr. Studio Head, consider the twists!

Do you need to watch an underexposed, black and white, microbudget indie from the late ’90s to understand the Nolan canon? Probably not, and it explains why I hadn’t watched it until now. Having watched it (I’m very professional), it’s very much of a piece with other indie movies from the ’90s, when budding auteurs like Quentin Tarantino and Darren Aronofsky and Kevin Smith et al made cheapo black and white movies hoping to become The Next Big Thing. Now aspiring directors get five A-list actors for their debut, premiere it at Sundance, and like 20 journalists see it before it disappears forever.

Anyhoo, I was pleasantly surprised in Following‘s early going, which depicts a scruffy Londoner who follows people around for a hobby. He gets caught in the act by one of his subjects, who brings him into the world of petty burglary. There’s a Fight Club quality to Following, this portrait of young men living on the margins, seeking a kind of spiritual fulfillment the modern world has denied them, and the mentor/protege relationship between the two. Then the whole thing sort of fizzles into a double-cross plot with twist after twist. This is one of Nolan’s more unfortunate tics — his depictions of these odd little communities always seem (to me) better and more compelling on their own without the tit-for-tat constant double-crosses that Nolan always seems to thin he needs in order to maintain our attention.

9. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

I think I can say that Christopher Nolan is simultaneously a great superhero director and that superheroes are Christopher Nolan’s least interesting subjects. The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t all bad, obviously, it had wistful Michael Caine, Tom Hardy’s Bane taking over a football stadium, and “that would be very painful… for you.”

But it is a movie where Nolan’s slightly annoying tics seem to catch up to his good ones. It’s a movie that makes me kind of hate Hans Zimmer. Or at the very least wish he came with volume control. Nolan’s tendency to value a “naturalistic” sound mix over an intelligible one and his love of a good score made The Dark Knight Rises feel like a music video at times, with an antagonist who mumbled worse than a xanny rapper (which is at least as much a Tom Hardy trait as it is a Christopher Nolan one) competing for aural space with constant sound effects and a bombastic score. Don’t tell me it’s more “natural” or “realistic” that way, this is still a Batman movie. Give me that goofy dialogue. I want to live deliciously, not naturalistically.

The Dark Knight Rises‘ Catwoman subplot is also notably forgettable compared to Michael Keaton/Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns (admittedly I’m the guy who loves that weirdo Hot Topic goth fever dream, it’s pretty hard to beat). And it featured lots of nameless extras attacking each other Braveheart-style even when they have guns, which to me is just irredeemably dumb. Sorry, I can’t do anonymous henchman who inexplicably suicide themselves anymore.

I tend to think Christopher Nolan was just getting a little bored of growly Batman by this point (or maybe I’m just projecting) and with the demands of making a bookend, and it shows in some of the cut corners. It’s always a little more fun to just go where the characters take you than having to write them into a specific endpoint.

8. The Prestige (2006)

On paper, it’s hard to beat dueling Victorian-era magicians, David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, and doppelganger deus ex machinas. Andy Serkis even got to use his real face instead of jumping around in a spandex suit pretending to be a monkey. Nolan went waaay goofy in this adaptation of Christopher Priest’s novel and you have to love him for it. “The Prestige!” is also up there with “The Aristocrats!” in terms of titles that sound good to yell during orgasm.

Yet The Prestige is also the height of Christopher Nolan seeming to value subterfuge and shock twists over compelling character development, seeming to worry more about surprising the audience than making them care. The Prestige‘s whole story rests on a relentless (and eventually exhausting) feud between two magicians, American Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Cockney Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), constantly determined to outdo each other for the mantle of “World’s Greatest Magician” (see parallels to Christopher Nolan and his co-writer brother Jonathan!). They are helped in this quest by their respective “ingenieurs” (aka engineers, an entire concept I’d love to believe Christopher Nolan just invented even though I know it probably came from the novel). One played by Michael Caine, the other some guy in obvious make up.

On the one hand, The Prestige seems to be a window into Christopher Nolan’s soul. It’s easy to believe he sees himself in Jackman’s protagonist, the showman who wants more than anything to give audiences grand illusions that allow them to believe in magic for a few seconds, the man who puts the ghost back in the machine.

That being said, I feel like there’s a limit to how many times one can use fake mustaches and doppelgangers as a dead-serious plot device. The two magicians double-cross each other so much that you end up wishing they could just be friends. Meanwhile, the expectation that we’ll be hanging off the edge of our seats and that we’ll be worrying about who will double-cross who! the whole time sort of cuts against all the goofy fun we could’ve been having with The Prestige. The film’s end twist (go look it up, I don’t want to get yelled at for spoiling a 14-year-old movie) is somehow unbelievable, unsurprising, and unsatisfying all at the same time. Oh? So it was exactly what Michael Caine said all along? Imagine that. The sheer silliness of it would be more fun if the accompanying monologue wasn’t so utterly self-serious. (Nolan movie rule: pay attention to whatever Michael Caine says.)

Unpopular opinion: of the two movies about dueling Victorian-era magicians released in 2006, The Prestige was inferior to The Illusionist. What was happening in 2006 that we ended up with two dueling magician movies?

7. The Dark Knight (2008)

I’m not putting The Dark Knight this low as a contrarian take but I have to admit that the sheer number of people who treat it as sacrosanct and get pissed when you don’t agree that it’s the greatest superhero movie ever made make me like it less and less. It’s one of those movies that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was watching it but that I don’t feel like I especially need to see again.

Pros: The Dark Knight was the movie where Christopher Nolan came into his own directing action sequences. Early on he shot largely in the shaky-cam/quick-cut style that was popular at the time. On The Dark Knight he had a big budget to play with and used it brilliantly in masterful sequences like the whole bank robbery scene at the beginning. Also, Aaron Eckhardt was brilliant casting and I don’t know that I need to say more than has already been said about Heath Ledger.

Cons: Heath Ledger is brilliant as the Joker, but his performance masks the thinness of this character. The Dark Knight cuts a lot of narrative corners to make The Joker look cool. He kills a mob boss and that boss’s men are all instantly 100% loyal to the clown man? Is that how that works in the underworld? The Dark Knight’s universe rests on a foundation of mindless automaton criminals. Partly the years of other directors copying the “pure sociopathic chaos agent” antagonist and “bad guy gets caught on purpose” have cheapened The Dark Knight‘s impact in hindsight, but partly it’s also a movie that doesn’t work nearly as well when you have time to think about any one thing. To Nolan’s credit, he never gives you that time. I think Dark Knight can be a great movie without being an especially rewatchable one.

6. Batman Begins (2005)

It’s a shame that Batman Begins has so many poorly shot shaky-cam action sequences (a time when Nolan and many others cobbled together fist fights from a thousand split-second blurs of feet, fists, lapels, chandeliers…) because almost everything else about Batman Begins is so great. I prefer the narrative grounding of Liam Neeson as evil mentor and Cillian Murphy/Tom Wilkinson as bad guy heavies to the flash of Ledger’s Joker. That Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow is a bad guy whose MO is sneaking people drugs and then f*cking with them while they’re high? Genius. This guy is a professional mellow harsher, man! My love for Batman Begins was sealed when that first psychedelic worm crawled out of the eyehole in Scarecrow’s burlap face sack.

5. Dunkirk (2017)

I love Dunkirk. It’s everything 1917 wanted to be. It also marked a clear inflection point in Nolan’s identity (Inflection! That’s the I movie he should’ve directed after Inception, Interstellar, and Insomnia!). Early in his career, from Memento through Inception (and Following, for the 40-50 people who’d seen it), Nolan’s calling card was mindf*cks. He was, for all intents and purposes, the mindf*ck guy, the director whose movies would keep tricking you right up until the end credits. Luckily, just as the audience’s interest in being endlessly mindf*cked was beginning to wane, we discovered Christopher Nolan had become the Large Format Majesty guy right under our noses, so gradually that it had become his brand before we even thought to notice. Dunkirk is the movie that cemented that incarnation of the Nolan brand.

Dunkirk is one of the few movies you could call “a pure cinematic experience” and not sound insufferable. It’s the kind of film that works best, and maybe only, on a giant screen in a big room full of people. If we’re splitting hairs, the title cards (“one week,” “one day,” “one hour”) and the intersecting timelines feel more like vestigial elements of Nolan’s older shtick, his belief that he needs to trick audiences to make us care. But they don’t especially detract even if they’re not especially useful.

It also feels a little like Nolan deliberately muffled Tom Hardy’s dialogue in Dunkirk as a f*ck you to everyone who complained about not being able to understand him in The Dark Knight Rises. I don’t like it, but I respect it. Christopher Nolan and Tom Hardy is the kind of team-up that’s even more mumbly than its individual parts.

4. Insomnia (2002)

I sweated over whether to put Insomnia above or below Inception and Memento, because when I was trying to find a Nolan movie to rewatch, Insomnia is the movie I found myself most wanting to revisit. It’s the most obvious outlier in the Nolan canon. Where Nolan tends to make his bones on flashy concepts, Insomnia was, essentially, a police procedural, one of the oldest stories in the book and the subject matter of roughly 85% of our television shows. It’s also Nolan’s only remake (of a 1997 Norwegian film by Erik Skjoldbjærg).

Having rewatched it this past week, Insomnia not only holds up, I think it’s gotten better with age. Free of the usual requirement to wrestle a wild concept into believability, Nolan puts all his energy into Insomnia‘s subtler flourishes. Even aside from that, Insomnia is a textbook example of why setting matters. Nothing annoys me more than films that deliberately anonymize their setting, that take place in “Anytown, USA” as if that’s going to make us care more (specificity is always better!). The simple fact of where the story takes place creates so many narrative possibilities, and Insomnia is a perfect example. Removing setting as a story element for a screenwriter is like cutting off your own arm.

In the Norwegian version, a big city investigator played by Stellan Skarsgard (one of our finest Skarsgards), travels to a town above the Arctic Circle to investigate a murder. He’s also recently been caught having sex with one of his witnesses (a very European plot point). Nolan’s American version sees Al Pacino playing a famous LAPD homicide detective (I like to imagine it’s the same guy he played in Heat, only severely sleep-deprived) sent to Alaska, where he partners with a fresh-faced townie fangirl played by Hillary Swank — a character who will, naturally, prove to have more smarts and courage than anyone. When he accidentally shoots his partner during a chase we’re left to wonder if his inability to sleep is a result of the never-setting sun or his own guilt.

I remembered the unforgettable chase sequence at the log factory which is every bit as good as I remembered, but there were quieter moments I’d forgotten that stood up just as well. Robin Williams’ self-serving rationalization for why him killing that girl was just an unfortunate mistake, immediately punctured by Al Pacino’s “I don’t give a f*ck” soliloquy on the topic of motive. But in an era where we’ve (far too belatedly) begun handwringing about the ubiquity of “copaganda,” Insomniac stands out as a story that uses cops not as a cheap shortcuts to heroism but as a lens into humanity. It’s what a good story should do, regardless of subject or setting. This all culminates in Insomnia‘s pitch-perfect ending, Pacino telling Swank not to cut corners. It’s maybe Nolan’s best ending.

3. Memento (2000)

Memento stands out as the reverse of Insomnia, an acknowledged classic and a landmark in the Nolan canon even if I don’t feel compelled to rewatch it. Memento was Christopher Nolan’s break out hit, his calling card, the movie that established him as “ground-breaking director” right out of the gate. Memento is not only a break-out film for Nolan but maybe the seminal break-out film of all time. Arguably, the star of the film is the storytelling technique itself. How many films can you say that about?

Is Memento gimmicky? Absolutely, but it’s a good gimmick, and its success explains why gimmicks exist. When no one knows who you are, One Big Hook helps them remember. After The Dark Knight movies and Inception, Christopher Nolan got a reputation for seriousness, and general lack of a sense of humor. But if you go back and watch Memento, it has a lot of moments that are, at the very least, wry. You don’t cast Joey Pants if you aren’t aware of the humorous potential.

2. Inception (2010)

In terms of cultural impact, Inception is inarguable. BRAAAAHM sounds in trailers were ubiquitous for years afterwards. To this day I still hear people occasionally use “snow level” to describe something that’s evolved far beyond its initial intention. Snow levels, the spinning top, the squinting DiCaprio — Inception at this point is almost more meme than movie. Maybe that’s why I’m a little hesitant to rewatch it. I remember its greatness but we’ve probably squeezed all the juice from it at this point.

Inception is the ultimate expression of Nolan’s obsession with intersecting timelines and with expanding and contracting time — a storytelling element that’s present in almost all of his movies in some form or another. In Inception, the plot is almost entirely an excuse for them. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character also has the same name — Cobb — as the burglary mentor in Following. Cobb steals secrets from people’s dreams, and in that sense Inception is kind of a massive budget, fx-heavy version of Following, in which Cobb broke into people’s houses and stole, scattered, or moved people’s most personal possessions in order to gaslight them. If Dunkirk was the culmination of Nolan as Large Format Majesty Guy, Inception, with its kooky dreamscape scenes and rotating hallways, was probably the movie that gave him a hard shove in that direction. Also, bring back Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

1. Interstellar (2014)

How to explain putting Interstellar at the top of the list even while conceding that it is messy and gets pretty silly at times? What I think happens with some of the best movies, and certainly the most enduring and rewatchable ones: intensity outpaces craftsmanship. And maybe that’s the way it should happen, that a storyteller gets so obsessed and in the weeds of their own ideas, that they crank the amp up to 11 and start wailing away, and what comes out might end up a little distorted or smoke out the whole garage, but in the end we remember the passion more than the sour notes or the property damage.

Hindsight only sharpens this effect. It seems plain that the initial reviews of Interstellar, even my own, didn’t give it enough credit. Was there too much expository dialogue, convoluted explanations, and laughably simplistic depictions of “love?” Sure, but six years later I can barely remember them. Interstellar‘s warts recede in contrast to the incredible worlds it conjured — the giant wave planet, the dust-choked dystopia, the ice purgatory. Nolan gave us more indelible images in Interstellar than we normally get in five or 10 movies. I wish I had a nickel for every time I or someone else compared a situation to “the first act of Interstellar.”

Apologies for quoting myself, but my closing paragraph in my original Interstellar review sums up most of what I love about Christopher Nolan movies and what I hope for every time a new one comes out.

I can understand if that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, or if it comes off bloated or pompous, but I think that’s just the way Christopher Nolan thinks. Dude’s wackadoodle, like a model airplane hobbyist reading Stephen Hawking on too much Adderall. He has his quirks and pet plots, but I’m always fascinated to hear his latest dispatch from the edge of sanity.

Here’s to hoping Tenet drove him just as nutty.

‘Tenet’ opens in theaters in the U.S. on September 3. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

Following a night of drinking and games with a few of her friends, Kaash Paige shares her thoughts during the morning after in her new video for “London.” The Dallas native kicks off the video poolside as she wakes up from the eventful night. Walking over slumped bodies found laying around the pool, Kaash makes her way into the house, where she is met by more sleeping attendees. Kaash pours herself another cup as she flashes backs to partygoers jumping into the pool, playing beer pong, and downing some drinks.

Kaash Paige’s new video comes after the Dallas native shared her debut album Teenage Fever, which contains 13 songs as well as guest appearances from 42 Dugg, Don Toliver, K Camp, SSG Kobe, and Isaiah Rashad. Serving as her first album under Def Jam, Teenage Fever arrived after the Dallas native delivered her 7-track EP, Parked Car Convos at the end of 2019.

In addition to Teenage Fever, Kaash Paige also shared a remix of her track “Love Songs,” featuring 6LACK, at the top of the year. Months later she lent a guest verse to Don Toliver’s “Euphoria” with Travis Scott, which landed on Toliver’s Heaven Or Hell album.

Watch the video for “London” above.

Teenage Fever is out now via Def Jam. Get it here.

The final 15 seconds of Game 2 of the Bucks-Heat series was as wild as you’ll ever see in an NBA game, as Milwaukee erased a six-point deficit to tie it with 4.3 seconds left, only for Jimmy Butler to win the game at the free throw line with no time left after a foul call at the buzzer.

How we got there was a wild ride, in which the Bucks successfully trapped Butler into a turnover that led to a Bucks layup, Khris Middleton was fouled on a three on a very questionable call, and then Butler was fouled on a fadeaway at the buzzer that was, likewise, questionable at best.

Butler shooting free throws with no time left on the clock was a rarity in the NBA, as it’s only happened twice before in NBA Playoff history, and players at home were just as stunned as fans watching how it went down, starting with the foul on Middleton.

It wasn’t more than two minutes later in real time that the foul on Butler happened, and just about the same reactions came from NBA stars who couldn’t help but laugh at how things ended.

Of all people, it was Draymond Green who felt Marc Davis made the right calls on the two controversial plays.

We’ll see if the league concurs when they release the Last Two Minute report on Thursday, but it was an ugly end to a competitive game, with Miami emerging with a stranglehold on the series at 2-0.

The Miami Heat stunned the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. Behind a monster fourth quarter for Jimmy Butler, who had a career playoff high 40 points on the evening, Miami was able to take one off of the best team in the league. In Wednesday night’s Game 2, Butler didn’t need to have a monster night for the Heat to get a win. Thanks to a more egalitarian effort spearheaded by the rejuvenated Goran Dragic, Miami took a 2-0 series lead with a 116-114 win.

The way that the win happened, though, could not have been more remarkable. With 15 seconds left and the team up six, the Heat gave Giannis Antetokounmpo a free lane to get to the rim. From there, the wildest end of game sequence that we have seen all year occurred, culminating in a walk-off trip to the free throw line for Butler with 0.0 seconds left on the clock and the game tied.

The craziness started with Butler getting the ball in the corner after the Antetokounmpo dunk. He threw a lob at his own rim that ended up in the hands of Brook Lopez, who laid it in easily and cut the lead to two.

After a timeout, Goran Dragic lobbed in a risky inbounds pass to Butler, who went to the line, hit one of two, and gave Miami some breathing room. But on the ensuing possession, a controversial foul call sent Khris Middleton to the line to shoot three. Middleton rose up, Dragic got just close enough to him that a foul was called, and after all three of his shots from the charity stripe went in, we had ourselves a tied ballgame.

And then, there was the end, which I can’t quite put into justice, so I recommend you just watch.

Antetokounmpo got called for a foul that occurred after the ball left Butler’s hand, which happened with about 0.1 seconds left. As the horn blared, the referee’s whistle blew, signaling a foul on the Defensive Player of the Year and reigning MVP. A review confirmed the call, Butler stepped to the free throw line with no one around him, and hit them both in one of the more surreal visuals we’ve seen this year.

It was, as you can guess, quite the unconventional way for a game to end, as we have not seen this happen in any NBA game since the first Bush was president.

This marked a controversial ending to a fantastic basketball game, one in which Miami got out to an early lead, held on for much of the game, and held off Milwaukee’s multiple attempts to pull off a comeback win during the fourth quarter. Seven Heat players, led by Goran Dragic’s 23, scored in double-figures, while Antetokounmpo had a big night, going for 29 points and 14 rebounds.

Now, the Bucks are in a position where they absolutely have to pick up a win or find themselves in a fairly insurmountable hole, while the Heat inching closer to a return to the conference finals. Game 3 will take place on Friday, with the festivities tipping off at 6:30 p.m. EST on TNT.

Despite movie theaters and schools reopening in parts of the country, it’s important to remember this: the pandemic is nowhere near over, and there’s a good chance it could surge back from levels that never really went all that down to begin with. Case in point: A couple of weeks after True Blood star Anna Camp tested positive for the coronavirus, Dwayne Johnson, and some of his family, did, too.

The wrestler-turned-actor revealed the news in an Instagram post on Wednesday night, with a video that runs over 11 minutes. In it, he says that he and his wife, Lauren, and two of their three daughters, Jasmine, 4, and Tiana, 2, all came back with positive results. Mind you, this isn’t news: Johnson claims the disease has come and gone, and that they’re all “no longer contagious.”

Still, he wanted to warn people about “one of the most challenging and difficult” ordeals he and his family have ever gone through.

“Testing positive for COVID-19 is a lot different than recovering from nasty injuries, getting evicted or being broke, which I’ve been more than a few times,” he said. “My No. 1 priority is to always protect my family and my loved ones … I wish it was only me that tested positive. It was my entire family and it was a kick in the gut. We as a family are good, we’re on the other end of it and no longer contagious. Thank God, we’re healthy.”

He continued:

“We are counting our blessings right now. We are well aware you don’t always get to the other end of COVID-19 stronger and healthier. I have had some of my best friends lose their parents to this virus that is so incredibly relentless and unforgiving. We are counting our blessings, but we are good.

Alongside the video, Johnson posted an encouraging message:

Stay disciplined.
Boost your immune system.
Commit to wellness.
Wear your mask.
Protect your family.
Be strict about having people over your house or gatherings.
Stay positive.
And care for your fellow human beings.

Stay healthy, my friends.

Glad to hear you and your family are doing better, Mr. Johnson.

(Via EW)

The exodus of key pieces from the Jacksonville Jaguars team that played in an AFC Championship game in 2017 is nearly complete, with Leonard Fournette being released earlier this week.

Fournette, coming off his second 1,000 yard rushing season of his career in 2019, was let go but he won’t be leaving the state of Florida. According to multiple reports on Wednesday night, Fournette is headed to the gulf coast of Florida to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and bolster a backfield behind Tom Brady that already has a young, promising running back in Ronald Jones.

Fournette himself confirmed the news on Twitter shortly after.

As Adam Schefter reports, it will be a one-year deal for Fournette as the Bucs go all-in on this season to surround Brady with capable weapons. They’ve already brought in Rob Gronkowski out of retirement to pair him with the only quarterback he’s ever played for and LeSean McCoy this offseason, along with signing Ndamukong Suh to beef up the interior of their defense. The Bucs offense will have little in the way of excuses this season for a breakout year with Brady under center and everyone they’ve spent on to give him targets and ball-carriers around him. The question is whether it’s enough to overcome the Saints atop the NFC South this season.

The last Chadwick Boseman movie released before his death was Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee’s reliably ambitious take on the Vietnam War genre. Boseman played one of the titular “Bloods,” a group of veterans who planted caches of money all over the war-torn country, with plans to retrieve it decades later. But his character, known as “Stormin’ Norm,” is only seen in flashbacks, being the only one to die during the war — a touch that’s gained unintended resonance after his untimely death. It seems Boseman kept his colon cancer a secret from almost the entire industry — to the point that one of his Da 5 Bloods co-stars misjudged his behavior as arrogance, when it certainly was not.

The actor is Clarke Peters, perhaps best known as an alum of both The Wire (as intelligence expert Lester Freamon) and Treme. He played Otis, perhaps the calmest of the quintet, who reunites with his old Vietnamese girlfriend, and the daughter he didn’t know he had. But while making the movie, Peters admitted, on a recent interview with Good Morning Britain (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), he didn’t get along as well with Boseman as he wished he’d had, especially once he learned about his condition. (You can watch the interview below.)

“I have to say with a little bit of regret that I probably wasn’t the most altruistic in that environment, but hindsight teaches us a lot of things,” Peters said on the show. “What I’m addressing is, basically, my wife asked what Chadwick was like. I was really excited to work with him. I said, ‘I think he’s a little bit precious.’ And she said, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Because he’s surrounded by people who are fawning over him.’ He has a Chinese practitioner, who is massaging his back when he walks off set. He has a makeup lady massaging his feet. His girlfriend is there holding his hand.

“And I’m thinking maybe the Black Panther thing went to his head.”

It hadn’t. Boseman wasn’t acting princely; he was, Peters and everyone now knows, battling an illness that would soon take his life. “I regret even having those thoughts because they were really looking after him,” Peters said, choking back tears.

It’s a heartbreaking reminder that Boseman kept his illness very close to the chest, right up to the end. There’s still one more Boseman film left to be released: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which Netflix will drop later this year.

(Via EW)

As the summer end and fall begins, those humid, hot days make way for crisp, cool evenings perfectly suited for the subtle pepper spiciness of a well-made rye whiskey. Some would argue that rye is the “spice of life” you need just at this moment.

In recent years, rye whiskey has become increasingly popular yet again. Rye used to be the main whiskey distilled in America way back in the day but then history happened. Anyway, this newfound popularity means that there are now countless brands available. To find the right fit for you, we decided to ask the professionals. We tasked some of our favorite bartenders with telling us the best rye whiskeys to make your first sips of fall peppery and spicy.

Michter’s Rye

Anthony Aviles, general manager of Jack Dusty in Sarasota, Florida

Michter’s Rye has enough smokiness to enjoy with a good cigar (if you’re into that sort of thing) without overpowering it. Yet, the juice carries enough complexity to truly be enjoyed while the sun sets. It doesn’t have the same burn/bite that most whiskeys do, which is something I can appreciate during those 90-degree Florida summer nights.

Lot 40 Rye

Meredith Barry, executive beverage chef of Angad Arts Hotel in St. Louis

I fell in love with Lot 40 Rye a few years ago. It’s a 100 percent rye mash bill from Canada that’s distilled in a single copper pot. It’s great for cocktails, from a sazerac to even a fruity cobbler. The rye spice is persistent on the palate as well as vanilla, cardamom, and the earthy green notes from the virgin oak. It’s just damn delicious.

Old Forester 100 Proof Rye

Benjamin Burch, bartender at The Nolen in San Diego

I’d love to pick a local craft distillery here, but I’m just not convinced they’ve quite caught up to the big distillers. Brands selling MGP stuff are still putting out phenomenal whiskeys. But, I have to go with Old Forester 100 proof Rye. It is insanely affordable and just brings everything I want out of a rye whiskey. It’s got enough vanilla and caramel sweetness but also has those nice big spice notes and the higher proof just makes better cocktails. If I’m making an old fashioned or a Manhattan, this is the whiskey I’m reaching for.

Two James Catcher’s Rye

Rebecah Hunter, bartender at The Monarch Club in Detroit

If you’re interested in thinking local, then you’ll enjoy knowing that this rye is distilled from 100 percent Michigan grown rye and made with the freshwater of the Great Lakes. Although it has no color, it provides your tongue with spice and notes of fig.

Oregon Spirit Rye

Eva Al-Gharaballi, bartender at Datz in St. Petersburg, Florida

Oregon Spirit Rye Whiskey is my choice of rye to drink. With hints of clove, honey, cinnamon, and ginger, this award-winning rye has a smooth start with a traditional wheat finish.

High West Double Rye

Tommy Ergle, bar manager at Dr. BBQ in St. Petersburg, Florida

One of our go-to rye whiskeys here at Dr. BBQ is High West’s Double Rye. The High West Double Rye has a great spicy-meets-sweet flavor that gives it an early summertime taste with a strong, mellow finish. The perfect rye to sip on at the end of a hot summer day.

Savage & Cooke Lip Service Rye

Jerry Shaffer, food and beverage manager at Embassy Suites Napa in Napa, California

I’m going with Lip Service because of its intense nose orange peel, clove, candied ginger, creamy and velvety flavors.

Pikesville Rye

Jeremy Allen, bartender at MiniBar in Los Angeles

The bottle I’ve been recommending to people — when you can’t find Willett — is Pikesville 6 Year 110 proof. It’s a little bit older and more developed than Rittenhouse. It’s strong enough for bartenders or would-be tough guys, mellow enough for bourbon drinkers, and complex enough for sophisticates.

WhistlePig PiggyBack Rye

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Whiskey lovers owe a lot to Dave Pickerell, not just this killer bottle. With a full rye mash bill for the spice and bottling just under 100 proof for the strength, it makes great cocktails. It’s also perfect to toast some old pals, no matter the occasion.

Rittenhouse Rye

Damian Langarica, head bartender at a.bar in Philadelphia

How can I not choose Rittenhouse Rye? I live in Philly and the bar that I work at is in the corner of Rittenhouse Square. But besides that, it is a “must-have” rye whiskey to have at your home bar. It’s a very versatile rye. You can either get creative with it in a cocktail or enjoy it neat.

Willett Family Estate Rye

Emmanuelle Massicot, beverage director of Kata Robata in Houston

While it’s great for Manhattans and old fashioneds, you’re probably going to want to sip on this one over a few ice cubes.

Knob Creek Rye

Marta De La Cruz Marrero, food and beverage supervisor of Burlock Coast in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Knob Creek rye whiskey is a smooth rye whiskey with bold rye spiciness with undertones of vanilla and oak with expansive notes of herbs and rye with nuances of oak.

Journeyman Last Feather Rye

Stephen Potter, lead bartender at The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck in Grand Rapids, Michigan

This is an easy one, Journeyman Distillery Last Feather Rye. I love the pepper and spice of the rye. Balanced with the sweetness of the wheat and some notes of banana to make it a nice easy drink.

Grandstand has announced a benefit compilation album featuring some of the biggest names on the indie circuit, including Hayley Williams, Phoebe Bridgers, and Jamila Woods. The album will debut exclusively on Bandcamp this Friday, September 4, a day that also serves as the platform’s latest Bandcamp Friday, in which revenue shares are waived for its users. As for the project itself, the compilation album is titled Good Music To Avert The Collapse Of American Democracy, and it’s executive produced by artist managers Jordan Kurland, Darius Zelkha, and Christian Stavros, author Dave Eggers, and Barsuk Records label head Josh Rosenfeld.

All of the proceeds from the album will be donated to Fair Fight, a voters rights organization that, according to the press release, promotes “fair elections around the country through voter education, election reform, and combating voter suppression.” The album’s 40 song include a 1977 Beverly Glenn-Copeland track, a Hayley Williams cover of UK art-rock hypnotists Broadcast, a collaboration in progress between Ben Gibbard and Tycho, and much more. Listeners can also expect to hear R.E.M., Angel Olsen, Death Cab For Cutie, The National’s Matt Berninger, Soccer Mommy, Tegan & Sara, and more.

Check out the artwork and tracklist for Good Music To Avert The Collapse Of American Democracy below.

1. Hayley Williams – “Colour Me In” (Broadcast Cover)
2. Tycho x Ben Gibbard – “Only Love Will Save This Place (Demo Version)”
3. R.E.M – “Begin The Begin (Live in Hampton, VA 1989)”
4. Matt Berninger – “In Between Days” (The Cure Cover)
5. Grouplove – “Hardware Store”
6. Rostam – “Half-Light (Acoustic)”
7. Soccer Mommy – “Girl Next Door” (Saving Jane Cover)
8. Flume x Eprom – “Nor. 7″
9. clipping. – “Chapter 319 (Jonathan’s Full Stop Remix)”
10. My Morning Jacket – “Bring The Power Back Home”
11. Sudan Archives – “War”
12. Helado Negro – “Us Meeting Them”
13. Death Cab for Cutie – “The New Year (Live in Seattle, WA 2020)”
14. Jeff Tweedy – “Whisper”
15. Sharon Van Etten – “malibu, driving down the one (demo)”
16. Weyes Blood – “River” (Joni Mitchell Cover)
17. Thurston Moore – “L’Ephemere”
18. The Decemberists – “Death-Defying (Hoodoo Gurus Cover, Live in Australia 2016)”
19. Tegan and Sara – “God Help Yourself (Demo)”
20. Best Coast – “Our Deal (Live in Studio 2020)”
21. Poolside x Todd Edwards – “Getting There From Here (Instrumental)”
22. Jamila Woods – “HEAVN (Slot-A Remix)”
23. Robin Pecknold – “Hammond Song” (The Roches Cover)
24. Beverly Glenn-Copeland – “Dream On” (1977 Studio Recording)
25. Devendra Banhart – “Taking A Page” (Demo)
26. Phoebe Bridgers – “Chinese Satellite” (Voice Memo)
27. Real Estate – “People’s Parties” (Joni Mitchell Cover)
28. Sylvan Esso – “Ferris Wheel (Live In-Studio)”
29. Josh Ritter – “Someday (In Progress)”
30. Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers – “Vancouver Divorce” (Gord Downie Cover)
31. Alex G – “Skull Eyes” (True Widow Cover)
32. Frankie Cosmos – “Another Piece”
33. King Tuff – “Evergreen (Demo)”
34. Superchunk – “Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing” (Minutemen Cover)
35. Jay Som – “Time Off Work”
36. Angel Olsen – “All Mirrors (Johnny Jewel Chamber Remix)”
37. Gilligan Moss – “Ultraparadíso (Campfire Edit)”
38. Bhi Bhiman – “Takin’ It Easy”
39. Courtney Barnett – “Sunday Roast (Live in Estes Park, CO 2020)”
40. Preservation Hall Jazz Band – “One Hundred Fires (Live in Seattle, WA 2019)”

Good Music To Avert The Collapse Of American Democracy is out 09/04 via Grandstand. Pre-order it here.

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

The Boston Celtics are off to a hot start in their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup against the Toronto Raptors, having seized a commanding 2-0 series lead behind a 102-99 win in Game 2 on Tuesday night in Orlando. Jayson Tatum was the high scorer with 34 points on the night, but it was Marcus Smart who made his imprint on Tuesday.

Smart was everywhere in Game 2, but it was his five three-pointers in the fourth quarter that helped seal the victory and put the Raptors in an 0-2 hole. Smart’s long-range shooting has improved significantly the past two seasons after posting middling numbers from the behind the arc earlier in his career.

But with Smart, you always have to take the yin with the yang, as he committed five turnovers against Toronto and has also retroactively received a very rare $5,000 fine from the league, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, for flopping on a play late in the third quarter as the Raptors ran the fast break.

NBA is fining Boston’s Marcus Smart $5K for flopping in Game 2 victory over Toronto, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 2, 2020

Duuuuuude pic.twitter.com/2mGUGtTC2L

— Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) September 1, 2020

The referees initially called an offensive foul on Siakam, but eventually overturned it after a coach’s challenge. The last player to get fined for flopping by the league was Patrick Beverley back in November of last year. This is also the first time a player has been hit with a flopping fine in the playoffs since 2016. That player? Marcus Smart.