Complex

The Best New TV Shows & Movies This Week: 'Perry Mason' by William Goodman

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

In the first half of HBO’s Perry Mason, the gritty, True Detective-esque vibes felt tired and perfunctory, stunning Matthew Rhys performance and incredible visuals notwithstanding. That may have just been bait to hook early viewers, though. The show kicked into a whole new gear once this reboot started to more closely resemble the OG, lawyer version of the titular character that men 50+ all know and love. Rhys-Perry’s transition from P.I. to Public Defender clicks the series into place in a fun way—insofar as an often dour show like this allows itself to be fun.

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10 Years Later, 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' Is Still Ahead of Its Time by William Goodman

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

About halfway through Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Michael Cera's titular character, wonders aloud why his indie rock band, Sex Bob-Omb, can’t have their “own secret shows.” Sardonic drummer Kim Pine (Alison Pill) quickly retorts by stating the band’s lack of clout makes it so “all of [their] shows are secret shows.” 

Scott is too in his head to fully process Kim’s comment, but the dialogue is much more than a joke. The rapid-fire exchange doubles as a treatise of the Edgar Wright film’s reception upon its initial 2010 release, wherein it played to small audiences as a veritable secret show of its own. Scott Pilgrim was a box office Sex Bob-Omb, making a little over $10 million off its $60 million budget, but found a second life as a cult classic upon home release. Examining the movie adaptation of the Bryan Lee O’Malley graphic novel series—the 10th anniversary of its release is today, August 13—and it’s clear Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is like an indie band who dropped an album that hardly anyone heard but managed to be the best representation of its genre.

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What the 'Mulan' Disney+ Deal Means for Moviegoing by William Goodman

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

COVID-19 has been hard on all industries, including Hollywood. The production delays on films and TV shows that we saw early on during the pandemic, not to mention the shuffling of release dates, have exposed cracks in Hollywood’s foundation and shown just how much the rise of streaming services has impacted the traditional theater experience.

Among the hardest-hit companies has been Disney. Many of the company’s lines of business—amusement parks, cruises, resorts, and entertainment—have all been radically disrupted by the pandemic, sending their stock into a downward spiral for the first half of the year. As the future open date for movie theater chains continues to tumble down the calendar due to increased corona cases, studios like Disney are looking to unconventional solutions to release their movies. However, news from a recent earnings call could signify a new paradigm shift for how Disney plans to release their films for the foreseeable future.

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The Biggest Takeaways From the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations by William Goodman

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

With the announcement of the 72nd Primetime Emmy nominations earlier today, it's officially official: AWARDS SZN is here. The Emmys is always fun, as it truly highlights one of the mediums we're always invested in: television. Unlike film, TV has still been able to thrive during the 'rona, so we're still getting a great representation of the last year or so of TV.

This year didn't see huge surprises when it comes to the Emmys, but there are some interesting trends, snubs, and takeaways from this year's batch of nominees. From a new record for Black actors to a number of terrible snubs to how streaming services did, nomination-wise, here are the biggest takeaways from the 72nd Primetime Emmy nominations.

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How the Rumored Donald Glover / Lando Series Could Impact the Star Wars Universe by William Goodman

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

The legacy of Star Wars under the reign of the House of Mouse has seen more ups and downs than the series has had lightsaber battles. While the new set of movies started out promising, the ending was disappointing. The off-screen drama has seen the iconic series opt to trade the theatrical experience for streaming, with shows like The Mandalorian and a prequel series focused on Rogue One’s Cassian Andor leveraging Disney+ to tell the next wave of stories from the beloved franchise.

The galaxy of Disney+ programming seemingly got a little more expansive with a bit of recent news. As reported by the Kessel Run Transmissions YouTube channel, multi-hyphenate Donald Glover is in negotiations to reprise his Solo role of Lando Calrissian in a solo series of his own. It makes sense the company would want to further the relationship and capitalize on a beloved character in the process; Glover’s interpretation of the Billy Dee Williams-originated character was a highlight of the tumultuous production. Plus, Disney has recently shown a penchant for continued collaborations (whether it be the failed Deadpool series, 2019’s remake of The Lion King actor, or the fact the studio now owns FX where Atlanta airs.)

Although Kessel Run Transmissions did accurately predict the recently announced Bad Batch animates series, this potential production is still just a rumor until LucasFilim confirms otherwise. Nevertheless, that won’t stop us from thinking about where in the wild world of Star Wars this Lando show could take audiences. Here are a few ideas.

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Johnny Depp & Amber Heard's Tumultuous Relationship, Explained by William Goodman

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This article originally appeared on Complex.com

Celebrity relationships have always been a focal point of public attention, with entire industries devoted to following and tracking every single aspect of a person’s life. Few have drawn more fervor than the one between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, as their relationship—established Hollywood A-lister falls in love with rapidly ascending ingenue on their movie set—is a tabloid meet-cute staple. It’s a fairytale, until it’s not.

As the relationship progressed, there were whispers of darkness creeping in around the edges; allegations of abuse emerged, with startling reports of violent rages and physical abuse, later backed by photo and video evidence.

After a few years of silence, the Pirates of the Caribbean and Aquaman stars are once again back in the spotlight as more information comes out about the turmoil surrounding the relationship. Depp is currently suing British tabloid The Sun, and testimony is unearthing all kinds of new information at an almost daily clip about just how chaotic the relationship was. To put everything in perspective, we’ve pieced together a timeline of events charting the meteoric rise and fall of the couple. We’d also like to state that the events of physical abuse described herein might be triggering for some to read. Considering the ongoing court case, there’s likely to be more startling information to come—but here’s we are so far.

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With 'Palm Springs', Andy Samberg Proves He's Always Been Ahead of the Curve by William Goodman

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

For millennials such as myself, Saturday Night Live’s run from 2008 through 2013 largely defined our generation’s comedic personas. The core, absurdly talented MVPs of that era like Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Seth Myers, and Fred Armisen have left the show and springboarded to greater heights. But for as memorable as those performers are, the cast member who quickly came to represent the millennial sense of humor, and in some ways help define it, was Andy Samberg. And while the actor/comedian/producer is getting his flowers for his work in Hulu and NEON’s newly released Palm Springs, diehards will tell you Samberg has always been this good—and he’s still getting better.

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Everything You Need to Know About Peacock, NBCUniversal's New Streaming Service by William Goodman

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This article originally appeared on Complex.com

So we’re back at this again, huh? Alright. What’s Peacock and why do I need another streaming service?
Set to debut on Wednesday, July 15, Peacock is a new streaming service from NBCUniversal and Comcast. Named after the infamous NBC logo, Peacock is not dissimilar from HBO Max in the sense that it aims to be a hub for NBCUniversal’s suite of properties including NBC, USA, Bravo, Universal Pictures, and more.

Much like Disney+ and HBO Max, Peacock will allow NBCUniversal and Comcast to have direct ownership of many of their properties and generate revenue off of them. This means you’re going to see a host of shows, like The Office, for example, leave other streaming platforms so that NBCUniversal can have them on their exclusive service.

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