August 2018

-Man, this video that Chris Hemsworth shot for his GQ cover story is charming as hell.

-Here’s a deeper look at Rihanna and Donald Glover‘s new longform video shoot. I want it yesterday!

-Whenever there’s a new E Alex Jung profile of Sandra Oh, it’s an immediate “drop everything and read” moment. I like that they talk about Double Happiness (which was a big deal here in Canada). She also talks about her one and only major US magazine cover for Marie Claire: “I was so profoundly disappointed with the cover they chose. Because I didn’t feel like it was representing me, and it wasn’t a good shot.”

-This is a really good timeline about what the hell is going on with Elon Musk, Azealia Banks and Grimes — but I’m still confused.

–Drake praised Toronto during his show here last night: “I’m forever grateful, everywhere I go, I carry the value of this city with me. Every night that I go and I do a show in America, I tell them, ‘This is how the world is supposed to work.’ You see, tonight, we got 17,000 people inside one building from all races, from all places, and all we are doing is just listening to music, and smoking and drinking — and enjoying our lives. That’s how we been doing our shit since day one.”

-A new Kevin Spacey sexual assault case is being reviewed by the L.A. District Attorney’s Office.

-Oh no: Michaela Coel says she was sexually assaulted when she was working on Chewing Gum. She says she was writing an episode so she was staying at the office overnight and stepped out for a quick drink when she was drugged and assaulted by strangers. The show’s producers sent her to a private clinic and funded her therapy until the end of the shoot, but her relationship with them changed. “When there are police involved, and footage, of people carrying your sleeping writer into dangerous places, when cuts are found, when there’s blood … what is your job?”

-I never thought we’d see this day: The Big Bang Theory is ending after this season.

-In news that should surprise no one, the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians has been green-lit.

-This is great: Crazy Rich Asians’ Jon Chu and Henry Golding are buying out a theatre for John Cho‘s Searching movie.

-The resurgence of rom coms means the resurgence of great writing about rom coms. Here’s a look at all the books that have been optioned in the last few months (The Hating Game is my go-to comfort book, and I just finished The Kiss Quotient, which was delightful), and here’s a look at the movies that have used the fake boyfriend trope best.

-Also, I really, really liked this piece on why TATBILB’s Peter Kavinsky is such a good romantic lead. He doesn’t have an arc about learning how to respect her boundaries or share his feelings; he’s already built that way. “Every upcoming romantic comedy should take a look at the fan reaction to Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship and think — really think — about what makes them so appealing in this year 2018.”

-Unfortunately, it looks like the guy who plays Josh in TATBILB has made some problematic tweets.

-The Destination Wedding press junket is already amazing. Gah, Keanu and Winona are going to kill us before this thing even premieres.

-Not only will the CW’s crossover event feature Batwoman this year, but Superman and Lois Lane will also join in on the fun.

-I’m way more interested in Amazon’s Jack Ryan series now that I know it features a supporting turn from Wendell Pierce as Ryan’s mentor.

-The End Of The Fxxxing World has been renewed for Season 2 at Netflix. I’m very conflicted about this. I adored its 8-episode run earlier this year on Netflix and it will most certainly end up on my Best TV of 2018 list at the end of the year. But on the flip side, it was such a good example of a show that should be one and done. That perfect, ambiguous ending basically meant you could interpret it any way you’d like.

-I was hoping the R-rated puppet comedy The Happytime Murders might be a fun summertime distraction, but wow are the reviews brutal. Both IndieWire and Screencrush say it’s “the worst movie of the summer,” Variety says it’s “a waste of time and felt,” the Guardian calls it “a staggeringly bad attempt to add X-rated humour to Sesame Street,”  i09 calls it “a massive disappointment,” and Vanity Fair says it may be “the worst movie of the year.”

–Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish cram four years of high school in the new Night School trailer.

–Lee Pace, Jason Sudeikis, Judy Greer, and Corey Stoll star in Driven, which is debuting at TIFF.