Monday, November 25, 2024
You might have thought that after weeks of boosterism leading up to the presidential election, breathless reporting of Kamala Harris’ last minute surge in the polls, channel-wide optimism that women, brown and Black people were poised to reject Donald Trump a second time — only to be found dead wrong — that MSNBC would be in a moment of crisis. But you’d be wrong. Instead of reexamining its news practices after months of relentless pro-Harris coverage that seems to have wildly underestimated voters’ economic anger, a cultural backlash and Latino surge for Trump, insiders at MSNBC are feeling confident. WaxWord…
Sunday, November 24, 2024
Zayn Malik played his first concert since his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne died Saturday night in Leeds, England. While most of the show proceeded as expected, Malik ended the night with a tribute to Payne that left fans “shaking and crying.” A person on X, formerly Twitter, shared a video from the performance and captioned it, “Zayn Malik’s tribute to Liam Payne at the end of his first concert of the tour while playing Stardust I’m shaking and crying.” Zayn Malik's tribute to Liam Payne at the end of his first concert of the tour while playing Stardust…
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Bill Maher caught his audience up on recent Trump-related news during his monologue on Friday’s “Real Time,” with particular focus on the number of people associated with his incoming administration who have been accused of sex crimes. Which prompted Maher to joke that Trump will have “the first cabinet that’s asked to stay within 500 feet of a school.” Referring, of course, to a restriction registered sex offenders often have placed on them. Then during his “New Rules” segment, Maher had one final wish before he leaves for vacation (Friday’s show being his last of 2024): “Can we please not…
Friday, November 22, 2024
There’s a scene midway through “Spellbound,” the new Netflix animated movie musical starring Rachel Zegler, where we briefly wander through an expansive forest captured in an oddly throwaway montage. Looking down at a group of characters venturing into the vast unknown, we glimpse a shot of butterflies all taking off into the sky. At this moment, my mind immediately flew to this year’s beautiful “The Wild Robot,” where a similar scene plays out. However, though alike in the broad strokes, the execution of each could not be more different. Where the wondrous “The Wild Robot” patiently permits us to sit…
Thursday, November 21, 2024
At the first public screening Wednesday for his Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” writer-director James Mangold revealed that despite having written the script, he “hadn’t really boiled it down in my own mind” until he finally talked about the project face to face with the music legend himself. Fortunately, Mangold said during a Q&A after the screening, once he figured out how to explain it, Dylan was onboard. “Bob kind of smiled at me and and… I could tell he didn’t think that was offensive to him,” Mangold said. “I finished this script, and then it kind of freaked…
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
After seeing the run of absolutely insane cabinet picks Donald Trump has been making for his second term, an incredulous Stephen Colbert had just one question: “Where’s my job offer?” There was of course a lot of inspiration for this line of thinking. For instance, on Tuesday Trump announced he’ll be hiring former WWE CEO Linda McMahon as his Secretary of Education, and Dr. Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicaid and Medicare. But it was some earlier bleak news along these lines that got Colbert to his question during his monologue. “Trump picked another TV man to be Secretary of Transportation,…
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Alec Baldwin returned to “SNL” on Saturday’s politics-focused cold open, but the former Trump impersonator took on a different figure entirely for this episode: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The cold open imagined the private meeting between outgoing president Joe Biden (played by Dana Carvey) and incoming president Trump (James Austin Johnson), and in a bit that introduced a couple of Trump’s cabinet appointments, Baldwin stepped in as RFK Jr. Baldwin’s appearance was met with an applause break, after which he touted his credentials as Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services. “Americans need someone to teach them how…
Saturday, November 16, 2024
The highly-anticipated fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul was plagued by glitches — though it’s unclear whether it was Netflix, or local internet service providers at fault there. But it wasn’t a glitch for Paul, who won by unanimous decision after the full 8 rounds. The victory settles the boxing rivalry that was originally delayed from its original July 2024 date after Tyson suffered a stomach ulcer flare-up. During the fight, Tyson displayed the aggression and physical presence he’s known for, but his age quickly proved a detriment — at 58, his stamina and speed, not to mention reach, were…
Friday, November 15, 2024
Plenty of people are freaked out about the fact that anti-vaccines activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Trump’s pick to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services. And for good reason — as CNN’s Jake Tapper put it on Thursday, “I hope you like measles, America.” But on “The Late Show,” Stephen Colbert was a picture of fake-philosophical calm as he urged people to to “Keep an open mind” about it. “Because that’s how the worm gets in.” “There’s no denying it is a weird time. But today is not the worst day since Trump was elected,” Colbert said…
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Stephen Colbert told Wednesday’s “The Late Show” audience that he recently tried to give his staff some hope about the coming second Trump administration. “maybe,” he said, “it’ll be different this time.” Then he confirmed this is correct. “It’s already way worse,” Colbert joked. The bleak assessment of things to come was inspired by the news Wednesday of the many, many startling choices the former president — who despite attempting to overthrow the government in 2021, was never held accountable for his crimes by the Biden administration, apparently on purpose — is making for his next administration. Most notably, Trump…