Film
Black Panther Sequel Was Originally A Father-Son Story, Reveals Director Ryan Coogler
The tragic passing of Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman forced writer-director Ryan Coogler to complete rework the sequel’s plot. In a new interview with The New York Times, the filmmaker revealed his original plan for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which would’ve been a father-son story about Boseman’s T’Challa getting to know his son Toussaint following a five-year absence caused by the Blip. In Coogler’s original vision, the opening scene to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever featured an animated sequence in which Toussaint’s mother Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) asks him what he knows about his father. “It was going to be a father-son story from the perspective of the father,” Coogler explained. “You realize that [Toussant] doesn’t know his dad was the Black Panther. He’s never met him, a...
Barack Obama Reveals His Favorite Songs of 2022
Barack Obama is getting in on the fun of list season by sharing his favorite songs of 2022. Some one may have taken a peak at our own top songs list (hi, Obama!), as the former president included five of our favorites: SZA’s “Shirt,” Ethel Cain’s “American Teenager,” Danger Mouse and Black Thought’s “Belize” featuring MF DOOM, Plains’ “Problem With It,” and Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange.” Sadly, our favorite song of the year — Paramore’s “This Is Why” — did not make Obama’s list. #JusticeForParamore. Obama’s list also includes songs like Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Rosalía’s “SAOKO,” Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” Bad Bunny’s “Tití Me Preguntó,” Maggie Rogers’ “That’s Where I Am,” Burna Boy’s “Last Last,” NxWorries’ “Where I Go” featuring H.E.R., and Kendrick Lamar’s non-album hype trac...
All the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Cameos, Ranked
In Rian Johnson‘s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, constant twists and turns await the viewer, as nothing is as it seems when a billionaire (Edward Norton) invites his closest friends — and detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) — on an island getaway-turned-murder mystery. And that includes the film’s casting, which not only features a stellar main ensemble including Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Henwick, Dave Bautista, and Madelyn Cline, and the incredible Janelle Monáe, but a bonkers collection of famous faces from all realms of pop culture as cameos. So in tribute to those wild casting choices, let us rank them from “enjoyable” to “what a wonderful surprise.” From the world of sports to the realm of fictional detectives, the 10 cameos listed below are just one fa...
Movie Studios Can Be Sued for Deceptive Trailers, Judge Rules
US District Judge Stephen Wilson has sided with two Ana de Armas’ fans in a lawsuit against Universal Pictures, Variety reports, ruling that movie studios can be sued for deceptive trailers under the California False Adverting Law and the state’s Unfair Competition Law. The plaintiffs rented the 2019 film Yesterday after seeing de Armas in the trailer, only to find that all of her scenes had been cut before the film’s release. They then sued Universal, who tried to get the lawsuit thrown out under the free speech protections granted by the First Amendment. “Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer,” Wilson wrote in his December 20th decision. “At its...
Netflix to End Password Sharing in US Beginning in 2023: Report
Netflix will begin cracking down on password sharing in the US starting in early 2023, reports The Wall Street Journal. This summer, the streaming platform tested out an “extra home” fee in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras after first rolling it out in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru. Based on those tests, the new monthly fee is expected to cost $3 per extra home in the US. Netflix is well aware of how the crackdown will alienate customers. “Make no mistake, I don’t think consumers are going to love it right out of the gate,” Co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors in early December. Advertisement Related Video To that end, the company has reportedly discussed gradually implementing the change. With Netflix losing subscribers throughout 2022, however, the stre...
The Muppet Christmas Carol Was Right to Cut Its Worst Song
Sometimes, on a film’s journey to completion, scenes are cut which add extra insight to a character’s backstory, or contribute to the world-building; cuts that later feel like mistakes, creating a whole ancillary market for extended editions and special features. But sometimes, there are scenes that really were cut fo the film’s benefit — such as the “When Love Is Gone” sequence from The Muppet Christmas Carol. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Brian Henson‘s timeless and charming adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, Disney+ recently presented subscribers with the option to watch either the original theatrical release or the “full-length version.” The primary difference between the two is the inclusion of one extra song, which Henson has said then-Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenbe...
Whitney Houston Comes to Life (At Least On Stage) In I Wanna Dance With Somebody: Review
The Pitch: In 2012, America lost its Voice — Whitney Houston, the once-in-a-generation pop music icon, tragically died at the too-young age of 48. She was on the verge of a comeback after a stint in rehab, haunted by the twin specters of drugs and expectation; that we never got to see that beautiful second act makes her passing all the more tragic. In the meantime, we’ve got the songs and story Whitney left behind, and Kasi Lemmons’ I Wanna Dance with Somebody (or, as Sony’s SEO-focused title change goes, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody) tries to stuff that into a two-and-a-half-hour speedrun of her life and career, featuring Naomi Ackie as the tragic figure. We see her early days as a gospel singer, groomed for greatness by her ambitious mother Cissy (a perfectly-balance...
Samuel L. Jackson’s 10 Best Roles
Top Performances is a recurring feature in which we definitively handpick the very best performances from an iconic actor or actress. Samuel L. Jackson is far, far more than a series of memes. It’s a fact worth remembering as time goes on, and the actor’s most iconic performances have become inexorably linked to “say what again” image macros and a great many jokes about motherfuckin’ snakes on motherfuckin’ planes. But there’s so much more to the venerable performer than younger audiences may realize and perhaps even more than Pulp Fiction enthusiasts do either. Over a staggering 178 onscreen appearances since 1972 (and with nine more on the way, at various stages of production), Jackson has carved out a distinct niche as an untouchable tough guy with a disarming humor about...
Hans Zimmer Names Interstellar Score as Best Work of His Career
Hans Zimmer has offered his own assessment of his storied discography, naming his score for Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film Interstellar as his favorite with the caveat that his best is yet to come. The German composer revealed his answer in a video clip he shared over on TikTok. “People always ask me what’s my favorite score and I keep avoiding answering the question. And how about I don’t avoid it this time?” Zimmer said. “I’m going to tell you that the first, the favorite score that I’ve ever written, I think, is Interstellar. Or, I haven’t written my favorite score yet. So, maybe that’s the better answer.” Watch Zimmer name-check the Interstellar score below. Considering Zimmer has more than 100 soundtrack and film scores under his belt since the early 1980s, there is plenty of room for ...
Oscars 2023: LCD Soundsystem, Mitski and David Byrne, Taylor Swift on Shortlist for Best Original Song
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed shortlists for 2023 Oscar nominees in several categories, including Best Original Song, Best Original Score, and Best Documentary Feature. In the original song category, a longlist of 82 initial nominees has been whittled down to 15. They include songs by LCD Soundsystem (“New Body Rhumba” from White Noise); Mitski, David Byrne, and Son Lux (“This Is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once); Taylor Swift (“Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing); Rihanna (“Life Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever); Lady Gaga (“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick); and The Weeknd (“Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” from Avatar: The Way of Water). The shortlist for Best Original Score includes compositions from Composer of the ...
Kyle Meredith With… Celebrates 700 Episodes with Jared Leto, Maya Hawke, Jack Black, and More
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Today’s episode of Kyle Meredith With… marks the 700th edition of the interview podcast series! To celebrate and thank everyone who listens to the show, we’re celebrating with a special release spotlighting some of the film and TV stars that have dropped by the show this year. Advertisement Related Video Of course, as is always the case on KMW, there’s more than a tangential connection to music. In this special episode, you’ll hear from Jared Leto, Maya Hawke, Jack Black, Kate Siegel, Jamie Campbell Bower, Suki Waterhouse, and Kiefer Sutherland, all who discuss their latest film and audio projects, ...
Edie Falco Thought Avatar: The Way of Water Already Came Out and Just Flopped
If it feels like we’ve been waiting for Avatar: The Way of Water for over a decade to you, it’s because we literally have been. Delays on the long-awaited Avatar sequel from James Cameron have even thrown off new cast member Edie Falco, who shot her scenes so long ago that she just figured the film had already come out and just “didn’t do very well.” “I saw the first one when it was out,” Falco said during a recent appearance on The View. “The second Avatar I shot four years ago. I’ve been busy and doing stuff. Somebody mentioned Avatar and I thought, ‘Oh, I guess it came out and it didn’t do very well because I didn’t hear anything about it.’ It happens! The actor went on: “Someone recently said, ‘Avatar is coming out,’ and I said, ‘Oh, it hasn’t come out yet?’ I will never work...
