ReportWire

Tag: HBO

  • The 16 Sci-Fi Movies You Need to Watch Before You Die

    The 16 Sci-Fi Movies You Need to Watch Before You Die

    [ad_1]

    Chest-bursting aliens. Time-traveling DeLoreans. Dystopian futures. Galaxies far, far away. Science fiction is full of characters, set pieces, and scenarios that few other genres could ever get away with. Due to its often speculative nature, the most accomplished sci-fi movies can sometimes require a bit of work on the part of the viewer. Yet as fans of the genre understand, when it’s done right, a great sci-fi film is well worth the mental gymnastics that watching it might demand.

    Speaking of sci-fi done right: Whether you’re a lifelong genre devotee or have never even sat through a Star Wars movie to the end, a little guidance can go a long way—and that’s exactly what we’ve got for you. When you’re ready to take your mind on a cinematic journey, check out any one (or all) of our picks for the very best science fiction movies you can watch right now.

    If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.

    Dune and Dune: Part Two

    “Tell them a messiah will come. They’ll wait. For centuries.” Chani (Zendaya) speaks those words early on in Dune: Part Two. She’s speaking about the prophecy that a savior will arrive to help her and her fellow Fremen, and whether or not Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) will be that messiah. She could also be talking about the wait for a truly epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s award-winning sci-fi novel. Yes, David Lynch made one in the 1980s, and it’s a camp classic, but it is director Denis Villeneuve’s pair of films that truly bring Herbert’s story to life. Lushly designed, action-packed, and understandable even to people who’ve never touched the book, these Dunes are the real deal. If you know anything about the lore, you know there’s far too much to really get into it here, but let it be known: Villeneueve’s adaptations aren’t just mind-blowing sci-fi—they’re monumental works of art.

    Arrival

    While Denis Villeneuve has dabbled in a variety of genres since beginning his filmmaking career in the mid-1990s, a sci-fi milieu seems to suit him best. As if Enemy (2014) or his pair of Dune movies didn’t make that obvious, consider this: The man dared to make a sequel worthy of Ridley Scott’s genre-defining Blade Runner—and succeeded! Then there’s Arrival, which is basically a linguistics lesson wrapped in a sci-fi feature and all the more engrossing because of it. After the unexpected arrival of an alien species on Earth, linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is tasked with creating a universal language that will allow humans to speak with them, and vice versa. But she quickly comes to realize that effectively communicating with her human colleagues—who want results now—might be the bigger challenge. It’s a stark, and all too timely, reminder that progress takes time, and as such requires patience.

    RoboCop

    Any cursory attempt to recreate the ’80s usually goes straight for the popped collars and neon-colored everything. But a quick review of some of the decade’s most popular movies reveals a deep sense of disillusionment. Case in point: In the same year that Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) was declaring “greed is good” in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, Paul Verhoeven was unleashing one of cinema’s most subversive sci-fi flicks, which sees the mayor of Detroit hand over control of the city to the evil Omni Consumer Products (OCP), which promptly turns Motor City into a testing ground for its latest technologies. One of those creations is RoboCop (Peter Weller), a law-enforcing cyborg who is programmed with the sole intent of eradicating the city’s crime problem—until memories of his human existence find their way back into his head. Hey, it happens. Especially when you recycle the corpse of a police officer murdered in the line of duty in order to make your robot cop thing work. The film’s extreme violence initially earned it the dreaded X rating, which Verhoeven skirted with some clever editing. But the real scares are in its statement on capitalism and the power that corporations wield, which is as true today as it was nearly 40 years ago.

    Inception

    Anyone who has ever seen Inception knows that you probably need at least a second go-around—or 20—to fully understand its many complexities. If that is even possible. The less you know about the details of the story going into it the better, but the basics are this: Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an “extractor”—a talented thief who steals his targets’ secrets by infiltrating their dreams with his trusty team of colleagues, which includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, and Tom Hardy. People still debate what happened in the film’s ending, which is just the kind of mindfuckery Christopher Nolan seems to revel in.

    Star Wars V: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back

    There are only a handful of movie sequels that have somehow managed to be better than the film that spawned then, and The Empire Strikes Back is near the top of the list. The film reunites Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford)—the fearless threesome who made A New Hope an instant smash hit—as they yet again do their best to keep their world safe from the dastardly Darth Vader. While A New Hope dazzled with its ahead-of-its-time visual effects, The Empire Strikes Back was just as impressive—but took the Star Wars universe in a decidedly darker, and more adult, direction.

    The Matrix

    Today, The Matrix is part of an enormously popular franchise that includes movies, video games, and even an animated feature (The Animatrix). While all those additional pieces of the puzzle may have diluted the impact of the original film, its one-of-a-kindness still stands. In a dystopian future (really, is there any other kind?), the world is living in a simulated reality without even realizing it—until a top-notch hacker named Neo (Keanu Reeves) sees what’s happening and works to separate fact from AI-created fiction. The Wachowskis’ visionary directing, thought-provoking script, and mind-bending action sequences still have the ability to make viewers’ jaws drop. Audiences haven’t looked at spoons—or Keanu Reeves—the same way since.

    The Terminator

    In a different world, the studio could have won a casting argument with James Cameron, and The Terminator would star O.J. Simpson instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Through a fortuitous and circuitous turn of events, Cameron met with Schwarzenegger to pretend to consider him for the role of Kyle Reese in The Terminator and walked away knowing he had just found their eponymous cyborg, who time-travels from 2029 to 1984 in order to murder Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a waitress and future mom to the kid who will save the world. Fortunately, she’s got Reese (Michael Biehn)—another time traveler—on her side. On paper, it may sound preposterous, but 40 years later The Terminator still manages to impress—and is still spawning new content.

    Terminator 2: Judgment Day

    If The Terminator raised the bar for sci-fi films, Terminator 2: Judgment Day smashed it to pieces. Like so many cyborg movies that preceded it—including its 1984 parent film—T2 is as much a commentary on what it means to be human as it is a declaration of just how far is “too far” in the development of intelligent technology. If only early ’90s James Cameron knew what would lie ahead. The plot of this sequel essentially follows the same pattern as the original film: a Terminator (Robert Patrick) is sent to Los Angeles to kill John Connor (Edward Furlong), son of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), before he can lead the human resistance. Once again, the Connors have a guardian angel—only this time it’s a kinder, gentler, familiar old Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is sent to protect John. Where T2 managed to supplant its predecessor is in its VFX. As he has done so many times throughout his career, Cameron essentially had to create new technology in order to see his vision to fruition and, in doing so, led the transition from practical effects to CGI (for better or worse). Even by today’s standards, T2’s liquid metal shots are incredible to witness.

    Escape From New York

    John Carpenter may be better known as a master of horror, but he’s no slouch in the sci-fi department. Set in the then future year of 1997, Escape From New York offers a version of America where the country is one big war zone and the island of Manhattan is one giant maximum security prison. That’s unfortunate for the president (Donald Pleasence), as New York City is exactly where Air Force One crash-lands after an attempted hijacking, and POTUS is taken hostage by one of the country’s most dangerous crime bosses. In order to ensure the president’s safe return, the government has no choice but to enlist the help of Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a soldier-turned-criminal who might just be the only person who can save the country from total anarchy. Are there synth scores? You betcha. Carpenter would double down on his sci-fi prowess and reteam with Russell again, just one year later, with his equally awesome The Thing (1982).

    Ex Machina

    While the 1980s were undoubtedly a very good time for sci-fi, the new millennium has proven that there are still plenty of wholly unique stories to be told—and Ex Machina is one of them. Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) is a programmer who is invited to the remote home of an eccentric tech billionaire (Oscar Isaac) for what he thinks is a gig helping to develop a truly groundbreaking humanoid robot. But when Caleb meets Ava (Alicia Vikander), the robot in question, it becomes clear that it is she, not the humans, who is in control. With its A-list cast, stellar directing, all-too-relevant storyline, and synchronized dance scene, Ex Machina just might be this millennium’s Blade Runner.

    Back to the Future

    Yes, Back to the Future is a comedy. And a family film too. Not to mention an ’80s classic. But at its heart, the time-traveling adventure of Marty McFly is sci-fi through and through. Marty (Michael J. Fox) is a cool ’80s teen who has a hot girlfriend yet somehow manages to spend most of his time hanging out with a middle-aged mad scientist (Christopher Lloyd), who turns a sweet DeLorean into a time machine. Hijinks ensue, as does a bizarre plotline involving Libyan terrorists, all of which land Marty back in 1955, where he meets the teen versions of his parents and desperately thwarts his mom’s attempts to seduce him. (That storyline could be its own movie, really.) But by interfering with the past, Marty is putting his own future at risk. Forcing him to find a way to get back to 1985—but not before inventing rock ’n’ roll as we know it.

    Alien

    Ridley Scott has dabbled in virtually every genre, but the bars he has set in the sci-fi world are undeniable. Two years after making his feature directorial debut with the period film The Duellists, Scott changed the science fiction game with Alien. The film follows the crew of the spacecraft Nostromo, including warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who respond to a distress call as they’re making their way home to Earth. This turns out to be their first mistake—especially when they realize that they’re being stalked by an unknown alien species that seems determined to make sure none of the crewmembers ever leave the planetoid. Alien introduced audiences to an array of terrifying creatures—Xenomorphs and face-huggers and chestbursters, oh my—and kicked off a notable movie franchise that will continue later this year with Alien: Romulus.

    Close Encounters of the Third Kind

    Two years after inventing the “summer blockbuster” with Jaws, Steven Spielberg made a quick pivot from vengeful sharks to mysterious extraterrestrials—a theme he would revisit again a few years later—with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The film reunited the director with Richard Dreyfuss, who here plays a loving husband and father whose unexpected run-in with a UFO turns into an obsession that threatens to ruin the life he has built for himself. Nearly a half-century later, it remains one of the most smartly made alien movies Hollywood has ever seen by doing away with the “extra-terrestrial invasion” trope and instead focusing on the challenges that would come with the discovery of an alien life-form.

    2001: A Space Odyssey

    Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is the sci-fi movie to end all sci-fi movies, with every genre flick that has followed owing the auteur a debt of gratitude. With its epic scope, gorgeous cinematography, and its somewhat prophetic—and deeply dystopian—narrative about the potential dangers of relying too much on technology, the film is as relevant today as it was upon its initial release nearly 60 years ago. Particularly with its main storyline, which focuses on a group of men taking part in a space mission with the help of HAL 9000, a piece of AI technology that decides to go rogue. It’s not a short film, and every one of its 189 minutes is packed with prescient storytelling and ahead-of-its-time technology, making it stand out as one of the most accomplished films in cinema history.

    Blade Runner

    Between The Last Duel (2021) and Napoleon (2023), Ridley Scott has been on more of a historical epic kick lately. But no amount of time away from the sci-fi world could ever threaten his place as a preeminent master of the genre. While he made his name with Alien, he achieved icon status with Blade Runner. The setting: Los Angeles, 2019. (Stick with us here.) Flying cars are a thing, as are bioengineered humanoids known as replicants, and that’s a bad thing. Which is why there are so-called “blade runners” like Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), whose job is to find and kill these nonhuman threats to society. But when everyone looks and often acts human, where do you draw the line? Blade Runner’s complex storyline led to Scott and Ford being forced to record and attach a voice-over, which they both hated, to the film’s original release. The film has subsequently been rereleased, both theatrically and in home versions, a number of times and in different iterations. In 1992, Scott finally got to release a director’s cut of the film, which did away with the voiceover (and other elements he didn’t love), but even he didn’t have final say over that cut. Finally, in 2007, he got the chance to be the last word on every element with Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Watch ’em all and see where you land.

    [ad_2]

    Jennifer M. Wood

    Source link

  • ‘A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight’: Everything We Know About The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Prequel, Including Plot, Premiere Date & Whether George R.R. Martin Is Involved

    ‘A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight’: Everything We Know About The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Prequel, Including Plot, Premiere Date & Whether George R.R. Martin Is Involved

    [ad_1]

    In April 2023, HBO announced it had ordered another Game of Thrones prequel titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. Ordered to series in April 2023, the prequel is based on novellas written by George R.R. Martin. During the Warner Bros. Discovery February, 2024 earnings call, CEO David Zaslov revealed the prequel is currently in preproduction.

    What is A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight about?

    “A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg,” reads the logline. “Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.”

    How is A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight related to Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon?

    Chronologically, it is set about 72 years after House of the Dragon and about 100 years before GOT.

    HBO

    Is A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight based on a book by George R.R. Martin?

    Yes. There are three Dunk & Egg fantasy novellas, as they are known to fans. The Hedge Knight is the first of them.

    Why isn’t the TV series called Dunk & Egg?

    Martin explained that: “I love Dunk and I love Egg, and I know that fans refer to my novellas as “the Dunk & Egg stories,” sure, but there are millions of people out there who do not know the stories and the title needs to intrigue them too. If you don’t know the characters, Dunk & Egg sounds like a sitcom. Laverne & Shirley. Abbott & Costello. Beavis & Butthead. So, no. We want “knight” in the title. Knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories.”

    Is George R.R. Martin involved in the A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight series?

    Yes. Martin is writing and executive producing. After the show was announced in 2023, Martin said the pilot script had already written. He called it “terrific.” 

    George R.R. Martin

    George R.R. Martin

    Amy Sussman / Getty Images

    Who is creating A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight?

    Ira Parker, a writer on Season 1 of House of the Dragon, will also write and exec produce — He wrote the pilot script. On House of the Dragon, Parker wrote the fourth episode, titled “King of the Narrow Sea.” According to Martin, “That’s the one where Prince Daemon returns to King’s Landing after conquering the Stepstones, and takes Princess Rhaenyra down into the stews of Flea Bottom.”

    House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal is also an executive producer, which is a good sign for the show. Condal succeeded where others failed — out of half-dozen or so writers who took a stab at co-creating the first Game Of Thrones prequel with Martin, Condal’s House of the Dragon was the one to make it to series at HBO.

    Will A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms be true to Martin’s work?

    Yes, according to Martin.

    “The Dunk & Egg novellas are fully-fleshed narratives more like the novels of A Song of Fire & Ice than the imaginary history of Fire & Blood,” wrote Martin in 2023. “The stories are right there on the page, and our goal is to produce faithful adaptations of those tales for the screen.”

    Who has been cast in A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight?

    No one, officially, though those announcements should come soon since the show is in preproduction and likely soon to begin shooting. HBO CEO Casey Bloys said in November, 2023 that production on the latest prequel is scheduled to get underway this spring.

    How much will The Hedge Knight cost to produce?

    Per Deadline reporting, Season 1 of House of the Dragon cost nearly $200 million and was the subject of HBO’s biggest marketing campaign ever, valued at over $100M in media spend (that’s a combo of ad spot value and hard cash shelled out).

    One would expect a similar investment this time around, but Martin said in 2023 that he thought Season 1 of The Hedge Knight might be six episodes. House of the Dragon S1 had 10 episodes, so this latest adaptation of Martin’s work might be a little less costly.

    'House of the Dragon'

    ‘House of the Dragon’

    HBO

    A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight was announced a year ago, and there was already a pilot script. Why isn’t it further along?

    Martin has stressed that the development of the adaptations of his books takes time. He said that back in 2016 he pitched HBO two ideas, “the Dance of the Dragons, which in due time became House of the Dragon… and Dunk & Egg. That was seven years ago. (I can hardly believe it myself). The lesson there is that development takes time.”

    What’s more, while Martin said in April, 2023 that writing on the first season was “well underway,” production on Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was shut down for five months last year due to the dual Hollywood strikes.

    How can I watch The Hedge Knight?

    It will, of course, be on Max once the series is ready. The service has three price tiers: Max Ad Light, which goes for $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year and allows two concurrent streams; Max Ad Free will be priced at $15.99 a month, or $149.99 a year, and will also allow two concurrent streams; and Max Ultimate Ad Free which costs $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year, and allows access to four concurrent streams.

    In addition, WBD’s other current epic literary adaptation, House of the Dragon, is available not only on the company’s streaming service, but also to cable subscribers on HBO.

    If you’re in Canada, WBD has struck a multi-year licensing agreement with Crave for the likes of Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, the DC Universe and HBO content.

    When Will A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight be released?

    Zaslov said on the earnings call that The Hedge Knight will debut on Max in “late 2025.” That gives the streamer with GOT-related series in back-to-back years, with House of the Dragon Season 2 set to premiere this summer.

    Will the other Dunk & Egg novellas be adapted?

    There are two more novellas, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight, that were published in various anthologies. All three of the narratives were later published together under the collective title A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

    There’s no official word on The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight from HBO or Time Warner Discovery but, Martin has said, “If The Hedge Knight turns out as well as we hope it will, our hope would be to go on and adapt The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight as well.” 

    Warner Bros. Discovery is hungry for more. In a November, 2022 earnings call Zaslav stressed, “We’re going to have a real focus on franchises,” before going on to name check the Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon juggernaut as “a big example of that.”

    Will there be more Dunk & Egg stories written?

    Yes. A lot of them, if Martin has anything to say about it. And we even have titles and some idea of what they’re about.

    “Before we reach the end of the published stories,” the author said of production on the TV series, “I will need to find time to write all the other Dunk & Egg novellas that I have planned. There are… gulp… more of them than I had once thought. There’s The Village Hero and the Winterfell story, the one with the She-Wolves [The She-Wolves of Winterfell w/t], and maybe I need to write that Dornish adventure too to slip in between The Hedge Knight and The Sworn Sword, and after that there are… ah… more.”

    “More” includes stories with working titles such as The Sellsword, The Champion, The Kingsguard, and The Lord Commander, according to the author.

    [ad_2]

    tomt

    Source link

  • True Detective’s Issa López on Her Inspiration for ‘Night Country’ and What Season 5 Might Bring

    True Detective’s Issa López on Her Inspiration for ‘Night Country’ and What Season 5 Might Bring

    [ad_1]

    Although True Detective: Night Country has come to an end, there will be more to come — HBO announced on Thursday that they have renewed the series for a fifth season, with showrunner Issa López returning as part of a new overall exclusive deal with HBO and Max. Lopez said in the statement announcing the news, “From conception to release, Night Country has been the most beautiful collaboration and adventure of my entire creative life. HBO trusted my vision all the way, and the idea of bringing to life a new incarnation of True Detective with Casey, Francesca and the whole team is a dream come true. I can’t wait to go again.”

    When López went deep with hosts Hillary Busis and Chris Murphy for a special bonus episode of Still Watching, the news wasn’t official yet. But she still had plenty to say about the inspiration for the series, her favorite fan theories, and the ideas she already has for season 5. 

    López revealed that she took inspiration from antiquity and an infamous figure from the more recent past when figuring out who the various murderers would be for her installment of True Detective. “I’m very, very fond of Greek tragedy,” she said.  “The undoing of the hero is always ambition and sometimes generosity. The tragic mistake is more interesting when it comes from an ambition to do good. I conceived this around the deepest end of the pandemic. I remember that I was watching [an] Elizabeth Holmes documentary, and interestingly, they had a philosopher as one of the talking heads, which I had never seen in a true crime thing. The guy was saying, ‘It’s kind of a disease—the feeling that you have a mission to do good.’ When you have a mission for the greater good, nothing will stop you from doing horrible things.”

    And thus López came up with the Tsalal research scientists, wholly dedicated to their research that they believed had the potential to change the world for good, but are simultaneously responsible for the murder of Annie K. “I knew that justice had to come to them,” she said of the scientists. “In my initial three pages that I always write to myself, I knew exactly who had done it.” Enter the indigenous female community of Ennis, Alaska, who avenged Annie K’s death by leaving the Tsalal scientists in the frozen tundra. “The fact is we don’t pay attention to certain people, and that’s exactly what the series is about,” López said. She name checks the receptionist at the mine, the woman that washes the dishes at the police station, the woman that cleans at the hospital—women who appear throughout the series but many would never have expected to be involved with the central mystery. “That’s exactly the cardinal sin that hopefully the audience will make… all of these women that we don’t pay attention to, as happens with the victims of these crimes, are the ones that had enough and decide to change the story.”

    Although López constructed an airtight narrative to explain the murders of Annie K and the Tsalal scientists, she quite enjoyed the various fan theories that emerged as the season progressed. “What I find super entertaining is the obsession that people are developing with the color blue,” she said. “There’s a lot of blue in the art and the photography style that [director of photography] Florian Holtmeister went for and what [production designer] Daniel Taylor, the production designer did comes together pretty blue. It makes sense because the first season was very yellow and very ochre and there was a yellow king in it, and this is very blue.” While the color yellow ended up playing an important part of the first season, the color blue was not, in fact, an easter egg in Night Country. “The crab factory is called The Blue King,” López says. “There is nothing beyond that.”

    Another color—or fruit, rather—had a bit more significance in the story. “I love the idea of the orange,” López said. “The orange comes from a scene that I wrote in one of the earlier passes of Drafts where Navarro was sent to do a super pedestrian thing in the middle of all of this. Because of ice in the roads, a truck of oranges had toppled and there were oranges all over the road. [Navarro] was super bored, picked up an orange. She throws the orange into the darkness, gets a call, and then the orange comes back. Then the orange started to move into the story.” The significance  of the oranges was slightly influenced by The Godfather and Navarro’s supernatural connection with the deceased. “I did think of The Godfather because it is the announcement of death coming to us,” she says. “At the very end in episode six, [Navarro] says, ‘My mother loved oranges.’ So it does feel that she’s sending them back as part of her call of her visitation of ‘Don’t forget who’s on this side.’

    [ad_2]

    Chris Murphy

    Source link

  • A Spy Has Many Faces in the New Trailer for HBO and A24’s ‘The Sympathizer’

    A Spy Has Many Faces in the New Trailer for HBO and A24’s ‘The Sympathizer’

    [ad_1]

    An HBO series from Park Chan-wook, A24, and Robert Downey Jr. hardly needs selling. But the new trailer for The Sympathizer, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, does a great job of making me mad that I can’t watch every episode of this thing immediately.

    Though Robert Downey Jr. produced and co-stars in The Sympathizer, the real lead of the series is Hoa Xuande as a communist spy from Vietnam who moves to Los Angeles, where he’s unable to extricate himself from the espionage biz. Unsurprisingly, given the names involved, the series looks great—Robert Downey Jr.’s wacky spy disguises included.

    The post A Spy Has Many Faces in the New Trailer for HBO and A24’s ‘The Sympathizer’ appeared first on The Mary Sue.

    [ad_2]

    Britt Hayes

    Source link

  • The Next Episode of ‘True Detective: Night Country’ Is Dropping Early

    The Next Episode of ‘True Detective: Night Country’ Is Dropping Early

    [ad_1]

    Kali Reis and Jodie Foster in

    If you have a hard time seeing value in the Super Bowl (it’s the Oscars of football), perhaps this news will do the trick: HBO is releasing the next episode of True Detective: Night Country early to avoid competing with the big game.

    HBO made the announcement following the premiere of episode 4 on February 4. Episode 5, titled “Part 5,” will stream early on Max this Friday, February 9, at 9:00PM ET / 6:00PM PT. (That’s 8:00PM for my neighbors in the best time zone, Central Standard.) The episode will still air at its usual time on Sunday night, when most of America will be tuned in to the Super Bowl—whether for the ads, the Halftime Show (it’s Usher this year, FYI), the possibility of seeing Taylor Swift cheering for her football boyfriend, or the actual game itself.

    This is great news for fans of True Detective: Night Country, especially following “Part 4,” which ended with our newest person of interest, Otis Heiss, making a gnarly declaration: After telling Danvers (Jodie Foster) that suspect Raymond Clark “went back down to hide”—whatever that means!—he says, “He’s hiding in the Night Country … We’re all in the Night Country now.” Yeah! Welcome to Night Country, bitch!

    On a more serious note: I’ve been consistently struck by the comfortable pacing and structure of each episode, and impressed by showrunner Issa López‘s ability to combine visceral, personal storytelling with a thrilling mystery—one that isn’t getting hung up on whether or not ghosts are real. While much of episode 4 was a bummer, there were some moments of reprieve: Jodie Foster drunk as a skunk, Christopher Eccleston lounging in bed with a teeth whitening tray in his mouth, and the revelation that every man in Ennis, Alaska is depressed and watching Elf on Christmas Eve.

    With only two episodes left, we’re all anxious to see how López lands this creepy-ass plane. Episode 6—the finale—will air at its usual time on February 18.

    (featured image: HBO)

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]



    [ad_2]

    Britt Hayes

    Source link

  • ‘True Detective: Night Country,’ Episode 4: The Worst Christmas Ever

    ‘True Detective: Night Country,’ Episode 4: The Worst Christmas Ever

    [ad_1]

    Talk about a blue Christmas. In “Part Four” of True Detective: Night Country, the residents of Ennis, Alaska have the worst Christmas ever, as Danvers loses “the corpsicle” to Anchorage, Hank gets stood up by his Russian girlfriend, and Navarro loses her last remaining family member. Still Watching hosts Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, and Chris Murphy unpack everything from the arrival of Otis Heiss to Rose’s Christmas feast for one. Plus, Kali Reis drops by the podcast to chat about taking on the role of Evangeline Navarro. 

    Of all the many terrible surprises this episode, Hank  (John Hawkes) getting stood up by his mail-order bride after sending her money was the least shocking. Despite still believing that Hank is somehow involved in the season’s murder plot, Murphy couldn’t help but feel bad for the officer, who waited on the tarmac with a teddy bear in hand, only to find that his would-be girlfriend was a no-show. “I did feel really bad for Hank with him getting ghosted,” said Murphy. “Everyone in this town’s getting ghosted in one way or another,” quipped Lawson. 

    Hank is, of course, not the only denizen of Ennis to suffer a loss. After Danvers (Jodie Foster) discovers Navarro’s sister Julia (Aka Niviâna) in the middle of an episode, Navarro and Julia agree that it’s time for her to check into Ennis’s mental health facility, the Lighthouse. Although Julia checks in willingly, she quickly decides to leave, sneaking out, stripping naked, and walking into the icy ocean to her death. The loss of Julia is devastating, but not necessarily surprising given the way she was positioned in the series. “We didn’t see things going well for Julia, and unfortunately we were actually more correct than I thought we were gonna be,” said Lawson. Busis agreed, calling Julia “a Beth March ticking time bomb from the beginning… A sister that was having apocalyptic visions—you know she doesn’t get to episode six,” she added. “That’s not how it works.” 

    While Navarro may have had the worst Christmas Eve of anyone in Ennis, Danvers didn’t have a particularly cheery one either. Her stepdaughter Leah (Isabella LaBlanc) has deserted her after their blowup last episode, and a lonely Danvers is hitting the bottle as well as the case. Her obsession with Annie K. and the scientists’ murders leads her to force Peter (Finn Bennett) to work despite the holiday, creating an even bigger rift between Peter and his wife Kayla (Anna Lambe). Still, Danvers isn’t completely alone on Christmas Eve—because, as Murphy points out, she “got zooted and drove on over to her other boyfriend’s house.” There, with Elf paused on the television, we learn how Danvers ended up in Ennis, Alaska: She was transferred there by Ted (Christopher Eccleston) after a tragic accident that led to the death of her son, Holden.

    One person who seems to be having a not-terrible Christmas is Rose (Fiona Shaw), who has prepared a sumptuous feast seemingly for one when Navarro knocks on her door. “She had a cheese plate,” noted Lawson. “Presumably that’s before the entrées.” Rose is able to dispense both wisdom and care to a grieving Navarro, who is afraid that she’s beginning to experience her now deceased sister Julia’s apocalyptic visions. 

    The episode ends with Navarro and Danvers searching for Raymond Clark, after discovering that Annie K.’s pink parka has been spotted in the town’s oil refractory. While Clark is nowhere to be found, they do find the pink parka on Otis Heiss, a scientist who suffered the same injuries as the Tsalal folks and apparently has been living in the oil refractory for years. “I do feel like as much as Otis’s arrival feels a bit convenient, I think that that is going to be the sort of the center thing around which a lot of things converge,” says Lawson. “We now have introduced the premise that is suggested by the show’s title, and we’re coming close to the place where Annie K. died—presumably the place where Clark currently still is.”

    [ad_2]

    Chris Murphy

    Source link

  • HBO Comedy Chief On How Decision To End ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Came About, Show’s Legacy & Potential Offshoots

    HBO Comedy Chief On How Decision To End ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Came About, Show’s Legacy & Potential Offshoots

    [ad_1]

    After a couple of faux series finales and several multi-year breaks between seasons — including one that lasted six years — it’s no wonder that the most frequent question asked ahead of Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s 12th and final season has been, Is this really the end?

    “This time it really feels like it,” HBO‘s head of comedy Amy Gravitt told Deadline at the Curb Season 12 premiere party this week. “This is the most declarative that I’ve experienced it for sure.”

    Curb creator, star and executive producer Larry David and fellow executive producer Jeff Schaffer told HBO brass early on that Season 12 would be the comedy’s final chapter.

    “As has always been the case, story-breaking led the decision,” Gravitt said. “So, as they were writing, Larry and Jeff called to say the best version is the final version. It’s hard to argue with that!”

    Having been at HBO at 20 years, Gravitt has worked on the development of every current comedy series on the network except for Curb, which premiered back in 2000, two years after the end of Seinfeld, the hit NBC sitcom David co-created with Jerry Seinfeld.

    The single-camera HBO followup made people cringe while laughing as Larry David, the character played by David on the show, “said the things we’ve always wanted to say but never do,” Gravitt said on stage at the premiere.

    While David lives up to his curmudgeon alter ego in his public remarks, he actually likes going his show’s premieres, Gravitt said.

    “His favorite part is watching the show in the crowd,” she said. “He loves watching the episodes.”

    Looking back at Curb’s legacy, “I think it’s always been a Northstar for us,” Gravitt said. “There are so many people that’ve come in who have either worked on the show, proven themselves on the show, or somebody like Issa [Rae], shares as much DNA with Larry, as do some other shows that people keep referencing. Having a strong writer-performer at the center of the show, having those tightly spun episodic stories, I think it really set the bar for what a comedies can be.”

    As Curb is coming to an end, is David interested in potential spinoffs?

    “I don’t think so, I think he is serious this time,” Gravitt said about David leaving the Curb world behind.

    The writer-comedian also has not spoken to HBO about another series to follow Curb but the network would be game.

    “I would love that,” Gravitt said.

    Curb‘s final season premiers Sunday, Feb. 4, on HBO and Max.

    [ad_2]

    Nellie Andreeva

    Source link

  • The Last Of Us Part II Actor Says Fans Threatened Her Son

    The Last Of Us Part II Actor Says Fans Threatened Her Son

    [ad_1]

    Screenshot: Naughty Dog / Kotaku

    Anyone who was on the internet around the release of The Last of Us Part II knows it was a bad time. But while we, as fans and writers, saw the vitriolic backlash unfold in real-time, it was far worse for the creative team who was directly targeted by it. Laura Bailey, who played the secret second protagonist Abby, has opened up about her experience with harassment during the game’s release cycle, and how some disgruntled fans threatened her son, who was two years old at the time, because they didn’t like her character.

    What’s Coming Out Beyond Pokémon: The Indigo Disk | The Week In Games

    Image for article titled The Last Of Us Part II Actor Says Fans Threatened Her Son

    If you haven’t played The Last of Us Part II, Abby kills Joel, the protagonist of the first game, as part of a years-long revenge plot for the death of her father. A subset of fans famously lashed out about this, viewing it as a “betrayal” of sorts by developer Naughty Dog. This backlash extended to the cast of the game, including Bailey. In the documentary Grounded II: The Making of The Last of Us Part II that premiered on February 2, Bailey tearfully spoke about death threats that she received.

    Some of these messages were passed along to proper channels to ensure that Bailey wasn’t in any immediate danger, and among them were threats directed at her son, who was born during Part II’s development. In a segment of the documentary focused on the backlash surrounding leaked cutscenes ahead of launch, Bailey says this taught her to “keep a distance” from the public.

    Bailey talked publicly about the online abuse she received around the launch of The Last of Us Part II back in 2020, and even posted screenshots of some of what was sent her way. This included one message that was directed at her son and parents. This level of harassment has become so commonplace in the video game industry, and public-facing women in the space are most often the target. Just earlier this year, Spider-Man 2 face model Stephanie Tyler Jones had to speak out against people stalking her by leaving voicemails at her day job and making her feel “unsafe.”

    Seeing how people treated Bailey for playing a character she didn’t write naturally makes me worry about how The Last of Us fans will react to Kaitlyn Dever, who will play Abby in the HBO Max live-action adaptation, once the golf club comes down. A lot of people have jokingly said she needs to get off social media now, but looking at how awful the response was to Bailey, maybe it’s worthwhile advice.

    The Grounded II documentary presents a behind-the-scenes look at The Last of Us Part II’s development and includes a soft confirmation that Naughty Dog has a concept in mind for a third game.

    [ad_2]

    Kenneth Shepard

    Source link

  • Watch These Black Shows and Movies Before They Get Axed

    Watch These Black Shows and Movies Before They Get Axed

    [ad_1]

    In 2020, pretty much every industry went through a crisis. Yes, partly because of the pandemic. But, after the murder of George Floyd and the international Black Lives Matter playlists, everyone looked around and realized: their Black representation was abysmal.

    From corporate offices to movies, people were forced to reckon with the institutionalized racism at the core of their industries. Promises were made. Copies bell hooks’s All About Love were sold out. DEI executives were added to C Suites. And everyone swore to look inward and make changes outward. But now, all those promises have been forgotten.

    DEI leaders are being fired across the board in record numbers, and companies are proving that all their talk in 2020 was just that — talk. According to a report by Revelio Labs, a data analytics company analyzing workforce trends, DE&I roles have been diminishing faster than non-DE&I positions since 2021.

    The entertainment industry is also reneging on its promises. Despite having loyal audiences and critical acclaim, Black titles that were greenlit during the BLM fervor have now been cast aside by executives. In 2023, a record number of Black-led titles were canceled. Some of the axed titles include: HBO MAX’s Love Life starring Jessica Willims; Grown-ish, the Hulu spinoff of Black-ish starring Yara Shahidi, Trevor Jackson, Luka Sabbat, and Marcus Scribner; the beloved political comedy series Ziwe starring Ziwe; AMC’s Damascus; FX’s Kindred; and the reality show Sweet Life: Los Angeles.

    Even powerhouses in the industry are worried by this trend. Issa Rae, showrunner of Insecure and our President in Barbie spoke Net-A-Porter about this trend. “You’re seeing so many Black shows get canceled; you’re seeing so many executives – especially on the DEI side – get canned. You’re seeing very clearly now that our stories are less of a priority.”

    If even Issa Rae worries about the state of entertainment, it must be dire.

    So this Black History Month, support Black titles — before they get axed. Maybe by showing our support to Black stories, we can get more of them made. Here’s to wishful thinking.

    Rye Lane

    Forget Anyone But You, Rye Lane is bringing back the rom-com. Starring David Jonsson andVivian Oparah, this lighthearted romantic comedy follows two heartbroken singles who spend a day together in South London.

    They Cloned Tyrone

    Starring John Boyega, Teyonah Parris and Jamie Foxx, this science fiction comedy and mystery follows an unlikely trio as they delve into the heart of a neighborhood conspiracy.

    The Kitchen

    Directed by Daniel Kaluuya (of Nope and Judas & the Black Messiah), The Kitchen is a dystopian commentary on class in London. Set in a future without socialized housing, The Kitchen follows a community determined not to leave their home.

    American Fiction

    Head to the theaters for this one — it’s one of Jeffery Wright’s best performances. It follows an author who parodies the mainstream expectations of Black writers and is caught in a trap when his parody book skyrockets in popularity. A commentary on American culture and the publishing industry, follow this outrageous tale — which also features Issa Rae.

    Chevalier

    Kelvin Harrison Jr. stuns in this biographical portrayal of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges — who was the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation. It tells the insane but true story of his rise into the upper echelons of French society as a celebrated violinist-composer and fencer, including his love affair and falling out with Marie Antoinette.

    Abbott Elementary

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-61kVCFplfI

    Abbott Elementary is back for Season 3 this month. Celebrate the Emmy award-winning sitcom by binging the first two seasons in preparation for its great return. Fingers crossed it never gets canceled.

    Queen Charlotte

    From the Bridgerton family comes Queen Charlotte, which emerged from the fun and fanciful world of Bridgerton as a force of nature. Dramatizing the real-life story of Queen Charlotte and George III, this surprisingly sharp and smart drama explores themes of race and mental health while retaining Shonda Rhimes’s addictive approach to romance.

    Top Boy

    Speaking of British dramas, Top Boy is London’s answer to The Wire. Every few years it goes viral when it comes back on Netflix. Catch up now and don’t be surprised if you find yourself incorporating London slang into your day.

    Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

    The Spider-Verse animated Spider-Man movies follow Miles Morales, the Black, Brooklyn spiderman, as he travels across multiple dimensions. The most recent 2023 installment is a heart-wrenching journey that will thrill and surprise you, then leave you begging for part three.

    Swarm

    Donald Glover’s partnership with Amazon Studios is bringing us a TV remake of Mr & Mrs Smith this year. Until then, enjoy Swarm, starring Dominique Fishback. Fictionalizing the fervor of Beyonce’s Beyhive, it’s a satirical thriller about fandom.

    Black Cake

    Based on The New York Times-bestselling book by Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake is a generational-spanning family drama wrapped in a murder mystery about a woman whose children unravel the mystery of her life from the Caribbean to America.

    High Fidelity

    Zoe Kravitz, the ultimate cool girl, stars in one of my favorite shows ever — another Black-led show that was canceled after one season. A rework of the novel by Nick Hornby and the 2000 movie starring John Cusack, High Fidelity is a tumultuous story about one girl, the music she likes, and all her exes. It also stars Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who is currently nominated across the awards circuit for her recent role in The Holdovers.

    Genius: MLK/X

    After the hit that was Hulu’s Genuis: Aretha, the series is back with a story about Martin Luther King and Malcom X. This docu-series explores the work and personal lives of these two civil right figures without shying away from their personal figures and spotlighting the contributions of the women in their lives and in the movement.

    The Color Purple

    A cinematic feat, this 2023 musical adaptation features a powerhouse cast of: Halle Bailey, Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, and more. You’re going to want to see this in theaters.

    The Little Mermaid

    Halle Bailey brought new life to this fairy tale and its soundtrack. Balance the heavier content you consume this month with this tale (no pun intended) of hope and love.

    [ad_2]

    LKC

    Source link

  • Issa Rae Thinks Hollywood Is “Scared and Clueless, and At the Mercy of Wall Street”

    Issa Rae Thinks Hollywood Is “Scared and Clueless, and At the Mercy of Wall Street”

    [ad_1]

    Issa Rae is certainly not afraid to speak truth to power. In a cover story for Time magazine, Rae spoke candidly about the current state of Hollywood, stating bluntly that she believes “there aren’t a lot of smart executives anymore.” 

    In the story, Rae lamented the current state of Hollywood post-strike. “I’ve never seen Hollywood this scared and clueless, and at the mercy of Wall Street,” she said. Part of the problem, in her opinion, is the aging C-suite that controls a lot of what gets made in Hollywood. “I’m sorry, but there aren’t a lot of smart executives anymore,” she said. “And a lot of them have aged out and are holding on to their positions and refusing to let young blood get in.”

    She goes on to highlight a recent shift in which those with the purse strings feel the need to get involved creatively in various projects, rather than just provide the financing. “Now these conglomerate leaders are also making the decisions about Hollywood. Y’all aren’t creative people. Stick to the money,” Rae said. “The people that are taking chances are on platforms like TikTok: That’s what’s getting the eyeballs of the youth. So you’re killing your own industry.”

    Rae is in a unique position to comment on the state of the industry as both talent and creator. This past year, she starred in two best-picture nominees, Barbie and American Fiction, as well as a best-animated-picture nominee Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.  Fresh off the final season of Insecure, the HBO comedy she created and starred in, Rae leaned into creating and producing other work via her banner HooRae and her management company Color Creative. 

    But while she seemed to be killing it both in front of and behind the camera, Rae told Time that the past year was “not fun at all.” Rap Sh!t, her latest HBO series, was cancelled after its second season, as was Sweet Life: Los Angeles, the reality television show she produced. She’s also no longer involved with the adaptation of the New York Times podcast Nice White Parents, or the highly anticipated TV adaptation of Brit Bennett’s best-selling novel The Vanishing Half. She told the magazine that she had to let go of eight employees during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

    Rae told Time that while she’s grateful for the victories writers and actors won thanks to the strikes, “there was the frustration of, ‘Oh, my gosh, this project that I’ve been working on for five years just disappeared.’” She blames some of that on executives for pulling away from certain types of projects—particularly diverse ones. “There is a bitterness of just, like, who suffers from you guys pulling back? People of color always do,” Rae said. There’s data to back up her claim: A UCLA diversity report found that racial, ethnic, and gender diversity among actors, directors, and writers involved in theatrical releases had slid back to 2019 levels after increasing over three years.

    For her part, Rae is attempting to pass it forward and give new creatives opportunities in the industry. “I have my little stake in this limited plot of land, and I’m gonna make sure that I bring in as many people to live on it as possible,” she says. “So until we run out of opportunities, they’ll be good.”

    [ad_2]

    Chris Murphy

    Source link

  • How Will The Last Of Us Part II Work On TV, Anyway?

    How Will The Last Of Us Part II Work On TV, Anyway?

    [ad_1]

    Two weeks ago, news broke that actor Kaitlyn Dever was joining the cast for the second season of HBO’s The Last Of Us TV series—which is still floating along without a release date, with “some time in 2025” the best anybody in TV land can guess. But despite that mild ambiguity, Dever’s casting kicked off a small firestorm of speculation, because it was revealed that she’d be playing a character named Abby Anderson when she joined the Emmy-winning video-game adaptation’s second season—which means The Last Of Us is almost certainly diving whole hog into the story of 2020’s The Last Of Us Part II. And that means things are about to get … messy.

    The Last of Us’s Lamar Johnson On Learning Sign Language For The Show

    [Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for 2020 video game The Last Of Us Part II—and, likely, for at least some of the plot elements of the still-filming second season of HBO’s The Last Of Us TV show.] 

    Because while the critical consensus on Part II has mostly calmed down in the four years since its release—give or take some moderate consternation lately at the fact that Sony has already rolled out a “remastered” version of the hardly retro game, out last week–the game was something of a lightning rod when it first came out. Some of that wasn’t developer Naughty Dog’s fault. (A high-profile leak from the game’s development, showcasing several cutscenes and character models, fired up the kinds of chuds who get angry when female video-game characters aren’t “feminine” enough, to pick one of the more vitriolic examples.) But some of it was in direct to response to the game’s big narrative swings, which were, depending on who you asked, either “bold” or “super-aggressive and kind of manipulative.”

    Many of which, we have to assume, will now be inherited by its TV adaptation: Excepting its critically heralded third episode, Craig Mazin’s adaptation of the first game into the show’s first season was almost overwhelmingly faithful–down to the season’s final scene almost exactly mimicking both the dialogue, and the staging, of the game’s famous ending. With game series creative director Neil Druckmann on board for the second season, as he was for the first, it would be shocking to see the series diverge more than a few inches from established canon.

    What does that all mean? A few things—all of which could make The Last Of Us’ second season a very weird run of TV.

    The Pedro Pascal “issue”

    Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsay
    Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO

    Anyone hoping to avoid spoilers for either the game series, or the show’s next season, should hop off this train now, because there’s really no way to talk about either without addressing the fungus-encrusted elephant in the room: protagonist Joel Miller’s sudden death, an hour or so into The Last Of Us Part II.

    Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel on the show, has, understandably, hedged a bit when asked about this plot element–because how could he not? (Nobody wants the HBO Spoiler Squad on their ass.) But The Last Of Us Part II really doesn’t function as a story without it: Joel’s sudden death, at the hands of a group of survivors who come to the almost ludicrously idyllic community where he and Ellie (Bella Ramsay) have been living out their post-apocalypse, is rooted in both the aftermath of the first game and the narrative obsessions of the second. Everything The Last Of Us Part II wants to say about humanity–and it wants to say a lot—grows out of that early moment of sudden, shocking brutality, one moment of horrifying trauma birthed directly from another.

    This was controversial, to say the least, in the games, where Joel was a beloved character played by well-liked voice actor Troy Baker. Applying it to a rising/risen star like Pascal—who did so much work to build a beautiful, broken human out of some fairly stock parts with his performance as Joel in the show’s first season–might be even more disruptive. Pascal and Ramsay both came up through Game Of Thrones, of course, so neither is unfamiliar with being on a series that jettisoned its “star” at a critical early point. But seeing the show’s most marketable star go the way of Logan Roy one episode into its new season is still likely to leave fans a bit discombobulated.

    The absolute brutality of Ellie Williams

    Bella Ramsay

    Bella Ramsay
    Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO

    If the above paragraphs didn’t clue you in, The Last Of Us Part II is an aggressively grim game. Even its genuine moments of love or levity come with the unavoidable knowledge that something truly awful is right around the corner—and rarely in the form of something as simple as a rampaging fungus monster. That goes doubly true for the character of Ellie, who came of age in the first game/season—and who spends the second game having her last few shreds of innocence sliced off of her piece by piece.

    And really, we’re looking forward to seeing what Ramsay, who was excellent in the first season, will do with this material, as Ellie becomes harder and harder, and harder and harder to root for, the further into her need for vengeance she descends. But it’s going to be a lot for audiences, even by the standards of HBO: We’ll be curious to see if the TV show stays true to the moment that would, in a less ugly narrative, be Ellie’s rock bottom—i.e., the confrontation with Mel, for game players—or if it’ll back away from quite that level of character-alienating horror. But either way, we’ll likely depart the show’s second season with very little idea of who, if anyone, we want to see getting what they want out of this broken and miserable world.

    A question of perspective

    Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsay

    Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsay
    Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO

    There’s also a question of structure to be addressed here, requiring us to spoil The Last Of Us Part II’s other big twist: the fact that only about half of the game is played from Ellie’s perspective, with the game rewinding at a major turning point to show what its three violent days in Seattle have been like for Joel’s killer, Abby.

    On the one hand, this might actually be easier for the TV show to handle than the game; one of The Last Of Us franchise’s big tricks is adapting techniques from film and media, where they’re less familiar, to the medium of games, and this kind of perspective flip is far closer to old hat for television. That being said, the parts of the game where you play as Abby constitute a huge portion of the game, introducing new characters, stories, motivations, and problems, all to drill in for players that she’s just as much a person, a “protagonist,” as Ellie herself. A 24-hour-long video game can take that kind of time to make its points—a nine-hour TV series, not so much. It’s key to Druckmann’s vision of The Last Of Us Part II that Abby feel as “real” to the player/viewer as Joel or Ellie did. Building that kind of identification, without feeling repetitive or digressive, is going to be a fascinating struggle for the show to handle in a fraction of the time.

    Is there room for another “Long, Long Time”?

    Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett

    Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett
    Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO

    As we noted above, the first season of The Last Of Us deviated from the game’s plot in only one serious regard—and was rewarded powerfully for it, with critics and viewers alike holding up that digression point, “Long, Long Time” as a series highlight. With Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett moving mountains to flesh out characters who were, in the game, an asshole and a corpse, respectively, the episode served as a necessary antidote to the grimness of the rest of the season, reminding viewers that there was still the possibility of life, even for “the last of us.”

    Mazin, and writer Peter Hoar, could fit that material into the series in part because they were adapting a largely episodic narrative: The first Last Of Us plays out as a series of vignettes as much as it is a more cohesive story, and it was fairly simple to swap out the running and shooting of the game’s “Bill’s Town” segment for something with considerably more heart. Just as importantly, it demonstrated at least some justification for the entire show, dialing into quieter, more human moments, at a distance from Joel and Ellie’s story.

    The Last Of Us Part II is a much tighter narrative ship, though, with a big chunk of its power coming from the way it buries you in first Ellie and then Abby’s head. And so it remains to be seen where Mazin and his team can find room for a bit of light to shine through. (Even if you zoom out of the Ellie-Abby conflict, the game’s background plot is about a brutal inter-clan war waged between military despots on the one hand and transphobic religious zealots on the other; there’s not a lot of room for gentler shading there.) We suspect that the Abby material will have to stand in for that kind of digression, but her story is so married and mirrored to Ellie’s that it’ll be difficult to get meaningful breathing room out of it.

    All that being said: It’s worth stepping back and remembering that we’re talking about a TV show that hasn’t even been filmed at this point, let alone aired. Speculation can only go so far before it just becomes fortune-telling and just as useful. But The Last Of Us’ nature as an adaptation—and one especially beholden to its source material—invites these kinds of questions. The Last Of Us Part II landed like a bomb in 2020, detonating video-game discourse for months around it. We can only imagine what its adaptation to television will do when it arrives some time next year.

    This story originally appeared on The A.V. Club.

    [ad_2]

    William Hughes

    Source link

  • ‘True Detective: Night Country’ Audience Jumps 28% With Episode 2, Hitting 2.6 Million Viewers

    ‘True Detective: Night Country’ Audience Jumps 28% With Episode 2, Hitting 2.6 Million Viewers

    [ad_1]

    Episode 2 of “True Detective: Night Country” reached 2.6 million viewers on Sunday night.

    That’s a 28% increase in audience size compared to the first episode, which hit 2 million viewers across HBO and Max when it premiered on Jan. 14.

    The season is also doing well in delayed viewing; according to Warner Bros. Discovery, in one week, Episode 1 has risen from 2 million to 7.5 million viewers.

    More to come…

    [ad_2]

    Selome Hailu

    Source link

  • Palworld, Hogwarts Legacy, And More Of The Week's Biggest Gaming News

    Palworld, Hogwarts Legacy, And More Of The Week's Biggest Gaming News

    [ad_1]

    Clockwise from bottom left: Tom Hiddleston in Loki (Photo: Marvel Studios), Aramis Knight and Iman Vellani in Ms. Marvel (Photo: Disney+), Tatiana Maslany in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (Photo: Disney+), Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in WandaVision (Photo: Disney+/Marvel Studios), Samuel L. Jackson in Secret Invasion (Photo: Gareth Gatrell/Marvel), Oscar Isaac in Moon Knight (Photo: Marvel Studios), Alaqua Cox in Echo (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios)
    Graphic: Jimmy Hasse

    Updated 1/12: The MCU shows no signs of getting any smaller, does it? And now that Echo is here, it’s time to see where it sits in our ranking, from worst to best, of the whopping 26 Marvel shows that have premiered since 2013. Prepare for some ambitious Netflix fare, sturdy star vehicles, head trips like Legion, and—hang on, Helstrom, we’re getting to you—those not-so-hot titles, too. Dig in and let the non-superpowered fighting commence. – Sam Barsanti Read More

    [ad_2]

    Kotaku Staff

    Source link

  • FF7 Rebirth, TLOU 2, And More Of The Week's Essential Game Tips

    FF7 Rebirth, TLOU 2, And More Of The Week's Essential Game Tips

    [ad_1]

    Screenshot: Naughty Dog / Kotaku

    It’s time for a second trip to Seattle in The Last of Us Part II Remastered. Originally shipped in 2020, Part II amps up the scope of the series, as well as the violence. The result is a dynamic, stealthy survival horror romp that takes place decades after a world-ending pandemic. It can be a tough game to play, and Remastered also includes a new roguelike mode for those who want an even greater challenge. – Ari Notis Read More

    [ad_2]

    Kotaku Staff

    Source link

  • 'Succession' auction fetches $25,000 for Roman Roy's eulogy notes

    'Succession' auction fetches $25,000 for Roman Roy's eulogy notes

    [ad_1]

    Someday soon, someone will be walking down the street proudly carrying a ludicrously capacious bag, bought for a ludicrously capacious price.

    The voluminous Burberry tote is one of the most famous props used on “Succession,” the famed HBO saga of the Roy family dynasty, and it sold at auction Saturday for $18,750.

    But that bag, which became notorious when Matthew Macfadyen’s Tom Wambsgans savagely ridiculed it, wasn’t even the priciest item sold from the set of the addictive drama expected to also clean up at Monday’s Emmy Awards, on the heels of its Golden Globes wins.

    No, that was a set of pink index cards containing Roman Roy’s eulogy notes for his father’s funeral — a speech he never gave. Beginning, “My father Logan Roy was a great man,” the four cards represent the tragic failure of Roman (Kieran Culkin) to meet the moment. They have a new life now with someone who paid $25,000 and hopefully will frame them nicely.

    The online auction on behalf of HBO at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, ending Saturday, brought in a total of $627,825 for 236 lots. The results showed not only that people loved the show, says Heritage spokesperson Robert Wilonsky, but also that meaningful objects, and not the show’s high-end “stealth” fashion, clicked most with bidders.

    “At the end of the day, it was key moments of the show that resonated with fans,” he says.

    Props often take a back seat to costumes. After all, there’s no award for “best props” at awards shows, like there is for costumes, notes “Succession” prop master Monica Jacobs, who joined the show after the pilot episode. But prop departments go to extreme lengths to secure just the right item — even if it only appears for a few seconds. Jacobs shared the origin stories of some of the show’s most iconic props.

    DRIED SCORPIONS IN THE OVEN

    Why did Tom give wife Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) a paperweight of a dried scorpion encased in resin? Who knows? It certainly illustrated the turbulence of their marriage — and also caused a few turbulent hours in Jacobs’ kitchen at home.

    “It turns out you can buy (dead) scorpions pretty easily,” she says, “but they’re small. Getting them large enough was not easy.”

    Once she had a bunch — duplicates are always needed — she had to soak them to loosen up the glue so that she could reposition them for maximum effect. She stabilized them with wire and slow-baked them for hours on low heat until they were dry enough to be encased. All for a brief appearance. And maybe a spot on someone’s desk: a duplicate sold for a cool (and baked) $10,000.

    MOURNFUL WORDS

    Roman’s sad, pink notecards with that eulogy never spoken were not the only scribbled words that went for a fortune. On the day Logan died on his private plane, Shiv was the one who spoke to the waiting press.

    “You’ll understand I won’t be taking questions,” she said, in part, “but my brothers and I just want to say Logan Roy built a great American family company…”

    The words were written in block letters in Snook’s own handwriting. She did the first card and then, for duplicates, her writing was recreated. Likewise, Culkin’s handwriting inspired his pink notecards, Jacobs says. As for Jeremy Strong, who played Kendall, he often preferred to write every copy himself. Shiv’s speech card went for $17,500.

    THAT … BAG

    Let’s just say Bridget, the date of Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) at Logan’s birthday party, made an unfortunate accessory choice. Tom, in his worst “human-grease-stain” way, imagined aloud what could be in the “ludicrously capacious” tote: “Flat shoes for the subway? Her lunch pail? … You could take it camping. You could slide it across the floor after a bank job.”

    Jacobs explains that finding the perfect bag to match the script was a collaboration between the props and wardrobe departments.

    “Everybody brought in a version,” she says. “We had to decide, how big IS this bag, actually?” Also — it needed to be just the right level of high-end, “not enough for the Roy world, but still higher end than I am,” she quips. Ultimately, costume designer Michelle Matland “had the vision,” Jacobs says.

    The winning bidder also got an embroidered Sandro dress.

    MAKING THOSE MAGAZINES LOOK REAL

    When the Roys appear on the cover of New York magazine, you might think it’s just a matter of slapping together a few pages in the art studio. But no.

    It begins with a real issue of the magazine, to get the weight and the size exactly right. Then, not just the cover but inner pages are created too, and carefully incorporated.

    “It’s a very delicate process” to make the magazine look authentic, Jacobs says. “We’re very picky about how we do it.”

    The cover sold for $10,000.

    SOME OF THOSE SAUSAGES WERE REAL

    Remember that horrific game, or hazing ritual, that Logan inflicted on his poor executives, forcing them to grunt like pigs and beg for sausages? Some sausages were real, as needed, and some fake. (A group of prop sausages went for $5,250.)

    But mostly, food — at weddings, or other gatherings — was not only real but intricate, evocative of the locale, and fun to create, says Jacobs.

    “Every cheese board has to be a little different than the last time we did a cheese board,” she says. “We got very creative.”

    THE DRUGS, THOUGH? NOT REAL

    Ever wonder what serves for cocaine on set? A set of vials containing a white powder went for $2,000. Jacobs and her colleagues had to use substance that looked real and was also … snortable.

    In this case it was a naturally occurring sugar, inositol. At other times, lactose powder was used — “as long as the person could tolerate lactose.”

    SAME WITH THE THE CREDIT CARDS

    Three lots of Roy family credit cards were auctioned, but they won’t be accepted at your local supermarket. The cards were crafted by a graphic designer, then sent for printing at a special shop in New York, on either plastic or metal.

    “The plastic ones are are actually much more durable as props,” says Jacobs. “But,” she adds, “with ‘Succession’ characters it made sense for most of them to be metal.”

    Indeed. Kendall’s cards — two American Express Platinums, two Mastercards and one driver’s license — went for $10,000.

    [ad_2]

    Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press

    Source link

  • True Detective: Night Country, Episode One: What’s Really Haunting Ennis, Alaska?

    True Detective: Night Country, Episode One: What’s Really Haunting Ennis, Alaska?

    [ad_1]

    Grab your warmest winter parka because we’re headed up north. After half a decade off, the dark cop anthology series created by Nic Pizzolatto returns to HBO with a new installment, True Detective: Night Country, and a new showrunner, Issa López*.* This season, two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster and newcomer Kali Reis join forces to solve a cluster of grisly, freaky murders in their hometown of Ennis, Alaska. As Foster’s Danvers and Reis’s Navarro attempt to get to the bottom of what’s going down, VF’s Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, and Chris Murphy will also attempt to crack the case on a brand-new season of Still Watching. 

    We open True Detective: Night Country with a bunch of male scientists hanging out at their headquarters, the Tsalal research station, watching the “Twist and Shout” scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and making sandwiches. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, one of the scientists whispers, “she’s awake,” and the lights cut out. After Billie Eilish’s appropriately creepy “bury a friend” plays over the opening credits, we learn that the scientists have vanished seemingly without a trace, though they are eventually found stripped naked and frozen solid in a “corpsicle” on the Alaskan tundra. But that’s not the only murder mystery that needs solving on True Detective: Night Country. Navarro is convinced that the severed tongue found at Tsalal belongs to a Native woman named Annie K, who protested the town’s mine, was brutally stabbed to death six years before, and whose murder was never solved.

    Busis notes that showrunner López originally wrote the character of Navarro to be Latina. “[López] changed her to be a half Indigenous person when she really started digging into Alaska,” Busis says. “She was, like, ‘Oh, I can’t set a story here without having a real Native component.” The tension between the Native community in Ennis and the overwhelmingly white miners seems to be a central theme of the season. “The whole town is aflutter trying to find these white men, whereas this Native woman, she’s brutally murdered, stabbed 32 times,” Murphy points out. “That case can just go cold because of how society treats women of color. I think that’s gonna be a pretty important dynamic that’s going to be explored from multiple angles.”

    In classic True Detective fashion, both Danvers and Navarro seem to be wrestling with ghosts from their past and present even as they begin investigating. Flashbacks show Navarro as a soldier in battle, while in the present day, she seems to be responsible for taking care of her emotionally troubled sister Julia (Aka Niviâna). As for Danvers, she has a rebellious Native stepdaughter named Leah (Isabella LaBlanc) and seems to be haunted by a one-eyed polar bear, as well as a small child. “We hear a child’s voice whisper, ‘She’s awake.’ We see the polar bear in the street,” Busis says. “It seems as though maybe there’s a dead child involved.”

    Elsewhere in Ennis, Danvers is teamed up with seasoned detective Hank Prior (John Hawkes) and Hank’s son, newbie Peter Prior (Finn Bennett), to tackle this case, creating an awkward dynamic that puts Peter between his biological father and his mentor, Liz. Bennet dropped by Still Watching to discuss the premiere episode of True Detective: Night Country and the dysfunctional family formed by Hank, Danvers, and Peter. 

    “They’re just the police. They really run that town,” Bennett says. “I guess you could say in some aspects there is a maternal element to Danvers and Peter Prior’s relationship.”

    As for working with Foster, Bennett said it was every bit as intimidating and wonderful as you’d expect. “I was really terrified about meeting her, but you meet this incredibly friendly, warm, patient, understanding [person], and you get over all the kind of fear,” Bennett says. “Everything you were worried about kind of slips away.”

    [ad_2]

    Chris Murphy

    Source link

  • Memorabilia auction for HBO’s ‘Succession’ takes in $627,000 as fans scoop up props, including Tom Ford sneakers at $2,125

    Memorabilia auction for HBO’s ‘Succession’ takes in $627,000 as fans scoop up props, including Tom Ford sneakers at $2,125

    [ad_1]

    “Hey Buddha, nice Tom Fords,” says Roman Roy, pointing to Kendall’s sneakers in episode two, season four, of the HBO drama Succession. For a final price of $2,125, those Tom Fords could have been yours, spiritual teachings not included.

    The shoes were among 236 lots of memorabilia from the hit series auctioned by US Heritage Auctions on Saturday, fetching a total of $627,000. The priciest item: pink notecards scribbled with the eulogy that Roman (Kieran Culkin) left undelivered at his father’s funeral in the final season. The cards sold for $25,000.

    Succession, the story of three uber-rich siblings vying to take over their father’s media company, ended in May and is currently dominating the awards season. A week ago, the show scooped up four Golden Globes including best TV drama series.

    One of the most iconic items listed was the “ludicrously capacious” Burberry bag carried by an outsider to a family event, which sold for $18,750. The sight of which made Tom Wambsgans, played by Matthew Macfadyen, famously quip, “What’s even in there, huh? Flat shoes for the subway?”

    Collectors also vied for Lukas Matsson’s (Alexander Skarsgard) vape device; Roman’s Walmart kid’s T-shirt, which sold for $1,875; and Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) fictional Forbes cover issue.

    “We could not be more pleased with Saturday’s auction, and we’re sure those taking home a piece of the Roy legacy will feel the same way,” Heritage Screenbid Managing Director Jax Strobel said in a statement.

    The auction brought in “a lot of fan engagement, not just collectors, but real fans of the show that are participating and bidding,” Strobel said in a separate statement.

    The show led to Instagram accounts documenting the characters’ outfits and is credited with sparking the so-called “quiet luxury” fashion trend. A few lucky collectors now have their hands on Kendall’s Prada suit, sold for $7,500, or Shiv Roy’s (Sarah Snook) Max Mara power outfits.

    Subscribe to the new Fortune CEO Weekly Europe newsletter to get corner office insights on the biggest business stories in Europe. Sign up for free.

    [ad_2]

    Irina Anghel, Alicia Diaz, Bloomberg

    Source link

  • Is True Detective Season 4 Based on a True Story? Real Events, Facts & People

    Is True Detective Season 4 Based on a True Story? Real Events, Facts & People

    [ad_1]

    True Detective Season 4 (also known as True Detective: Night Country) is an anthology crime drama series that has gained acclaim for its atmospheric storytelling, complex characters, and exploration of dark philosophical themes. Each season features a new cast, and Season 4 follows Liz Danvers, who investigates a case of sudden disappearance. So, is there a possibility that True Detective: Night Country is based on a true story, and are there any real events and facts that we can expect to see this season?

    Is True Detective Season 4 based on a true story?

    No, True Detective Season 4 is not completely based on a true story. However, reports suggest that there have been two real-life mysteries that served as an inspiration for the show. That said, it is important to note that only the primary setting of these incidents was picked up by the filmmakers, and everything else that unfolds is fictional.

    True Detective Season 4’s real events and facts explained

    Their first inspiration is the Mary Celeste ship incident that occurred in 1872 when a whole crew disappeared out of the blue and an abandoned ship was found floating near the Azores Islands. The second one involves a group of Russian explorers who were hiking in the Ural Mountains in 1950. They were found dead outside their camps, and somehow, it seemed like they had cut their way out of their tents. An avalanche was blamed for their demise, but most were still sceptical of the actual reason.

    The real people behind True Detective Season 4’s characters

    The characters in True Detective Season 4 are fictional, and inspired by most archetypes. However, it does bring back the cynical and nihilistic touch of Season 1, which was a trait of Rust Cohle, a beloved fictional detective. The show has two strong female leads, and they are extremely well-written.

    Is Liz Danvers a real person?

    Liz Danvers is a created character, and according to Jodie Foster, who plays her, she is an “Alaskan Karen.” She struggles with her personal life and is protective of the people she loves, but she also seems to be pessimistic due to her inner turmoil.

    Netflix has dropped a brand new trailer for its upcoming animated fantasy movie, Orion and the Dark. The trailer features…

    Disney has revealed the Wish digital, 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD release dates for the newest Walt Disney Animation Studios film.…

    Stranger Things star Eduardo Franco, who played Argyle in Season 4, has said that he won’t be returning for the…

    To celebrate the 85th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros. has partnered up with Fathom Events for upcoming…

    [ad_2]

    Sonika Kamble

    Source link

  • Jodie Foster, Ascendant at 61, Reckons With Her Complex Mother’s Ghost

    Jodie Foster, Ascendant at 61, Reckons With Her Complex Mother’s Ghost

    [ad_1]

    Jodie Foster walks into the room smiling. It’s something she has learned to do over her decades of stardom: to beam at strangers and let them ask her searching questions. She wears a kind of invisible armor over her elegant white shirt, understandable for someone who has dealt with more than her (or anyone’s) fair share of creeps and stalkers. I don’t quite fall into either of those categories, though I have been watching Foster for as long as I can remember, starting with movies like Freaky Friday and Candleshoe and aging up along with her.

    She’s had a career any actor would dream of: her first Oscar nomination at age 14, her directorial debut before the age of 40, and a Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award at 50. Foster’s radiant performance in last year’s Nyad has landed her more noms. And that’s just an appetizer for her riveting role in the new season of the HBO series True Detective: Night Country, in which she plays Liz Danvers, a gruff “Alaskan Karen” who is police chief of the icy fictional town of Ennis. Danvers and officer Evangeline Navarro (former boxer Kali Reis) find themselves entangled in a mystical mystery that ties together the murder of an Indigenous woman and the disappearance of eight male scientists from a climate change research station.

    Courtesy of HBO.

    Foster never expected to be doing any of this at the age of 61. Her manager-mother convinced her that her Hollywood career would be washed up at 18, and, later, that directing was the wrong career move. “She had fear, so that was what she gave me,” Foster says now, four years after her mother’s death. That anxiety never seems to have quite dissipated. Yet sitting in front of me in a West Hollywood hotel room, Foster seems serene and excited to talk about her spiritual experience on True Detective, playing an out lesbian in Nyad—and why she’s happy she was turned down for the lead part in The Blue Lagoon.

    Vanity Fair: Before I walked in here, I was thinking about how I grew up watching you play tough, smart child and teen characters in movies from Bugsy Malone to Foxes that were very different from most of the roles out there. They really created a space in the 1970s for a different kind of girlhood onscreen.

    Jodie Foster: I guess I got lucky that I was the face of a tomboy girl, right? We all knew they existed but they just weren’t onscreen.

    At what point did you start thinking about yourself as someone who could shape your career and make choices?

    My mom did that for me. My mom, who was an amazing woman, had been a publicist when she was young. She was from a pre-feminist era and she didn’t have a lot of faith in her own abilities in some ways. So I think she kind of vicariously got me to do that. She was very clear: You will be respected, you will have this type of career. So when the Brat Pack [came along], for example, I didn’t do any of those movies.

    I didn’t really think about my career until after the Oscar nomination [for Taxi Driver] when I was 14. And she said that my career would be over by the time I was 18. She’d always say to me, what are you going to be when you grow up? A doctor, a lawyer, a politician? So when I went to college, she sold her house and moved into a small place. We were ready to say, Jodie will probably never work again. I did movies while I was in college to make money. I thought, I’ll do this until they tell me I’m not going to do this anymore. Then I got out of college and figured, I’ll just give it a last hurrah because I thought I was gonna go to grad school. And then it all snowballed and after The Accused, I said: I guess I’m not going to grad school!

    Winning an Oscar for The Accused was a good sign your acting career wasn’t over. But I can’t believe how pragmatically you approached it all.

    [ad_2]

    Joy Press

    Source link

  • Four Artists To Watch For In 2024

    Four Artists To Watch For In 2024

    [ad_1]

    Whether you are ready or not, we are officially in 2024. It’s okay if you’ve already abandoned your overambitious resolutions for more plausible goals — or if you’ve just given up entirely. There’s always next year.

    But if there’s one constant, it’s listening to music. If Spotify Wrapped taught me anything, it’s that I really can make it through anything with the right soundtrack. We’re edging closer to awards season, which means everyone is looking for the best of the best. Our inner critic comes out and, suddenly, we’re all members of the Recording Academy.

    With the 2024 Grammy’s right around the corner, it’s easy to get caught up in the hits from yesteryear. But I’m already looking ahead to the new year of music. And it’s time to recognize artists who are about to have a huge year. Some of them may be familiar names and hopefully, others will become new favorites of yours.

    Regardless, there have been four artists who stuck out to me this past year. These artists aren’t new per se, but they’ve skyrocketed with recent success leading the charts, making an impact on pop culture, and featuring prominently on Spotify playlists. Each artist has been selected because they have the It Factor — and finally everyone is seeing it.

    Here are the four artists to watch in 2024!

    Sabrina Carpenter

    Sabrina Carpenter via GRAMMY.com

    Sabrina Carpenter press

    Carpenter fell headfirst into a love triangle scandal alongside pop queen Olivia Rodrigo and her castmate, Joshua Bassett. In 2022, she released her fifth studio album, emails i can’t send, which solidified her as a certified pop songwriter who has every “It” factor you look for in a young starlet.

    Her sound can span genres- with synthy, sexy pop/R&B blends like “bet u wanna” to stomp-and-holler-inspired “Already Over.” Her take on heartache and the increased public scrutiny is both refreshing and witty.

    After opening for Taylor Swift this year and going viral for her “Nonsense” outros, and most recently performing for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, it’s hard to imagine that this is the last we’ll see of Sabrina.

    Noah Kahan

    Noah Kahan

    Noah Kahan

    Asyia Marotta

    A favorite here at Popdust, Noah Kahan has perfected that aforementioned “stomp and holler” sound. After a year of country-folk renaissance, Kahan’s Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever) deluxe edition released in 2023 and continuously broke records…leading to collaborations with artists like Post Malone, Hozier, Kacey Musgraves, and Lizzy McAlpine.

    With a sold out stadium tour on the horizon, Kahan is skyrocketing. His storytelling through music is unmatched- painting pictures of woeful hometown memories, heartache, loss, anxiety, and more.

    His self-deprecating humor and appreciation for success make Noah Kahan who he is. A longtime advocate for mental health, Kahan started The Busyhead Project to raise money for the cause. He has us in the palm of his hand, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.

    Dom Dolla

    Dom Dolla

    Dom Dolla

    donslens

    In the world of Electronic Dance Music, Dom Dolla is a trailblazer. He’s spent the year performing to crowds of tens of thousands of people at festivals and headline shows, and releasing some of the biggest EDM mixes of the year with “Eat Your Man (feat. Nelly Furtado)” and the disco jam “Saving Up.”

    He’s one of the most exciting producers for a reason: a chart topper who knows how to reach the ears (and hearts) of fans of house and EDM, and new listeners alike. He’s found new ways to incorporate sound bytes, big drops, bass, and classic tech-house style and create a league of his own.

    Whether he’s remixing classic tracks like “Black Betty”, playing his own tunes, or performing B2B sets with a fellow hot topic, John Summit, the “Rhyme Dust” creator is one-of-a-kind. Nominated for his first GRAMMY for his remix of Gorillaz “New Gold” with Tame Impala and Bootie Brown, Dom Dolla is your EDM artist to watch.

    Renee Rapp

    Renee Rapp

    Renee Rapp

    Erica Hernandez

    You may know her as Leighton from Max’s Sex Lives Of College Girls…or as Regina George in the 2024 remake of Mean Girls. But Renee Rapp is a whirlwind of a pop-R&B artist who knows how to make flawless music. She’s gathered a passionate fanbase behind her to prove it, and after her most recent album, Snow Angel, we’re dying to know what’s next.

    2022 was huge for Rapp, with her Snow Hard Feelings tour accompanying the album. She’s the talk of the town, weaving tales of unrequited love, belting ballads of heartache, and balancing them out with punchy pop tunes that are worthy of a repeat.

    She’s the face of both cinema and music right now, with a versatility of creativity that so few can achieve. It would be a mistake not to include her on our artists to watch this year, because we know Renee Rapp is only getting started.

    [ad_2]

    Jai Phillips

    Source link