-I adore Lizzo’s new video for Tempo featuring Missy Elliott. (My day job is social media and I’ve never taken Tik Tok seriously I saw Lizzo use it in this vid…)
–Lili Reinhart continues to cast doubt on those reports that she and Cole Sprouse have split, tweeting“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, kids. And news sources should try a little harder to be less vile. “Reliable sources” can kiss my ass.”
In her new song with Chance the Rapper, Nicki Minaj seems to imply she’s pregnant and engagedto boyfriend Kenneth Petty.
-A movie studio has asked Vox to remove an article because it contains (very clearly marked) spoilers about a film that is in theatres now, which is beyond ridiculous. Once your movie is out in the world, you can’t police how it’s being talked about. (I’m assuming it’s this one about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s ending.)
-The Handmaid’s Tale is getting a season four. This surprises me.
-Gossip Girl producers say the new show will be more of a continuation than a reboot. So will there be descendants of the original characters?
–Johnny Depp‘s $50M defamation suit against Amber Heard is allowed to proceedin Virginia.
-This Endgame deleted sceneis very sad and I’m glad it was cut because I was already destroyed in the theatre and Steve kneeling would have killed me dead. Also it explains how Gamora left.
-Well, this is awkward — or is it? W’s just dropped their latest cover story, in which Riverdale costars Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart open up about love, the show, and what their future holds — just days after reports about the pair splitting up. They refused to be interviewed together when they talked to the mag in May (maybe seeing the writing on the wall?) but today they both promoted the cover on IGwith posts that have their fans wondering if they really did split after all. Reinhart wrote “BREAKING: A reliable source has confirmed that none of you know shit” while at the very same moment Sprouse posted “UNPRECEDENTED: Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart consume the flesh of ‘reliable sources’ to fuel their bacchanalian sex cult.”
-The speculation continues that Diddy is dating Steve Harvey’s 22-year-old daughter. Not only is she half his age, she used to date his son! That’s gonna make for some awkward family BBQs…
-There’s more rumblings that Constance Wu is acting not so great, this time on the Hustlers press tour. (Although I don’t really get what the big deal is about her publicists allegedly asking publications to mention her first when talking about the film’s cast; she’s the topped billed actor in the credits so that’s not unheard of.)
–Jennifer Lopez celebrated her 50th birthday with a banger of a party. I love that her birthday dress was designed by Donatella Versace — the same person who designed the Grammy dress that launched JLo into the stratosphere. (Did you know that dress was the reason Google Images was created? True story.)
-Orange Is The New Black’s Taryn Manning insists she’s not suicidal after posting a troubling rant on Instagram. I’ve loved her since Weirdsville and want only good things for her.
–Nicole Kidmanclaims she’s embarrassedthat hubby Keith Urban has a lyric about her that goes “She’s a maniac in the bed, but a brainiac in the head.” Surrrrrrre she is.
-Queer Eye’s Tan France has a web series called Dressing Funny, and the season finale featured Pete Davidson. (Which was good, but not as good as the episode that featured Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch.)
-This year marks a new low for female directors at the Venice Film Festival. Out of the 21 films in competition, only 2 are directed by women. (Meanwhile here at home, TIFF announced its gala lineup earlier this week and 50% of titles are directed or co-directed by women — a record number for the fest.)
-Hollywood is closely watching Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s opening box office this weekend, considering it a testfor audience’s appetite for original, adult-skewing Hollywood tentpoles amid franchises and sequels. Meh. I want more adult-driven films but I have zero desire to see this one — mostly because of reviews like this.
-This featurette for Where’d You Go, Bernadette really makes me want to see this movie — despite all the behind-the-scenes drama and delays.
-The Zombieland 2 trailer is here and it’s making me so happy! (I love that it’s called Zombieland: Double Tap.)
-This was poetic: Avengers: Endgame passed Avatar to become the biggest movie in history at the same moment Marvel was on the Comic-Con stage presenting Phase 4. (Which sounds awesome, btw. So happy for Simu Liu from CBC’s Kim’s Convenience, and tickled that dudes are so upset about Natalie Portman playing Thor.)
-The movie side of Comic-Con felt really subdued, but there was a TON of TV news and trailers.
-I didn’t expect Comic-Con to make me emotional, but the panels for shows that are ending got to me. The Supernatural dudes teared up, Arrow’s Stephen Amellteared up, The Good Place’s Kristen Bellteared up. Dammit, feelings!
-The three Andrew Lincoln-led Walking Dead movies will no longer air on AMC; they’ll be released exclusively in theaters. Do people still like this franchise enough to spend movie money on it?!
-It’s odd that HBO thought it would be a good idea to have a Game of Thrones panel at Comic-Con. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss bailed, but lots of the cast showed up. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau got some boos from the audience when he said he thought it made sense for Jamie to die in the arms of Cersei.
–Rose Leslie is exiting The Good Fight, which makes sense because last season it was like she was on a completely different show.
-Oof, that Veronica Mars season. I loved it right up until until I didn’t. No spoilers but female characters don’t need to be tortured and miserable to be “strong” or worth rooting for. It’s straight out of the Joss Whedon handbook and we should have moved past this shit by now.
-Showrunner Rob Thomas is giving interviews about the big twist, and said “It is a gamble. If we never get to do Veronica Mars again because the fans turned on the show… then I placed a large bet and lost it.” It’s poses an interesting question, though. I don’t think creators owe fans anything (even if their work is fan-funded), but I also don’t think fans own creators their continued loyalty if they do something they know the fans will hate. This move just pissed off what is very likely their most vocal, fervent fans (the ones, I would argue, who were largely responsible for resurrecting the show). What will it look like if a lot of those fans wash their hands of it?
-Also, his defense is that it’s a “noir” show, which falls apart if you look at the tropes of noir.
-Good on Tina Majorino (who played Mac) for clarifying that she didn’t come back for the new Veronica Mars season not because of scheduling conflicts, but because of her character’s “diminished value.”
–Cate Blanchett showed up at a drag brunch in Torontothis weekend. Dammit, I’m going to that on Sunday. Just one week off!
