Saturday, September 25, 2021

Around the Tubes: September 25, 2021

  

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting.  This post includes blurbs on Marvel's Hit-Monkey, Dexter: New BloodJacinta, Attica, Nirvana, Garbage, Oh Wonder, Anthony Hamilton, Yusuf / Cat Stevens, James BondChampaign Ill, and Let the Right One In.


Hulu Original "Marvel's Hit-Monkey" premieres on November 17th, 2021 with all ten episodes. Check out our official date announcement teaser below!  After a Japanese snow monkey’s tribe is slaughtered, he joins forces with the ghost of an American assassin and together, they begin killing their way through the Yakuza underworld.


SHOWTIME breathes new life into the official DEXTER companion podcast with the premiere of DEXTER: NEW BLOOD WRAP-UP WITH SCOTT REYNOLDS, hosted by Reynolds, executive producer and writer for the much-anticipated special event series DEXTER®: NEW BLOOD.  In conjunction with the 15th anniversary of the DEXTER premiere, the podcast – which will be available everywhere – will launch Friday, October 1, and will continue its spree with new episodes every Tuesday for 16 weeks. To listen to the trailer and subscribe to the podcast, please click on LINK.  Ahead of the world television premiere of DEXTER: NEW BLOOD (Sunday, November 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT), Reynolds will give fans their fix by fleshing out the episodes and dissecting the characters and plot twists with razor-sharp precision. The podcast will provide exclusive behind-the-scenes access and feature special guest stars from the cast and the brilliant minds who bring the show to life, including Michael C. Hall (“Dexter Morgan”), Jennifer Carpenter (“Deb Morgan”), John Lithgow (“Arthur Mitchell”), showrunner and executive producer Clyde Phillips, the writers and many more on the hit list.

Check out the official trailer and key art for Hulu Original documentary "Jacinta". The documentary, from ABC News and Impact Partners, debuts on Hulu and in select theaters on Friday, October 8th, following an impressive festival run at DOC NYC, AFI Fest, IDFA, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, where it won Best Documentary, and MountainFilm, where the film won Best Feature. Trailer Available: HERE.  Filmed for over three years, "Jacinta" begins at the Maine Correctional Center where Jacinta, 26, and her mother Rosemary, 46, are incarcerated together, both recovering from drug addiction. As a child, Jacinta became entangled in her mother's world of drugs and crime and has followed her in and out of the system since she was a teenager. This time, as Jacinta is released from prison, she hopes to maintain her sobriety and reconnect with her own daughter, Caylynn, 10, who lives with her paternal grandparents. Despite her desire to rebuild her life for her daughter, Jacinta continually struggles against the forces that first led to her addiction. With unparalleled access and a gripping vérité approach, director Jessica Earnshaw paints a deeply intimate portrait of mothers and daughters and the effects of trauma over generations.

SHOWTIME will delve deep inside the bloodiest prison rebellion in U.S. history with ATTICA, the new feature-length documentary from Emmy-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders, The Murder of Emmett Till) and co-director Traci A. Curry, premiering Saturday, November 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PTThe film recounts in vivid detail the five-day 1971 prison rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York, which took the lives of 29 inmates and 10 hostages – the deadliest single day of violence Americans inflicted on each other since the Civil War.  To watch and share the trailer, visit: https://youtu.be/aElB8oEfbiU.

The September 24, 1991 release of Nirvana's Nevermind touched off a seismic shift in global youth culture. Rising to #1 worldwide over the next few months, its impact would elevate Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl from a promising Pacific Northwest cult band to one of the most successful and influential artists of all time. Nevermind returned rock ’n’ roll integrity and passion to the top of the charts, and continues to be a singular inspiration to fans and musicians alike over the last three decades--as it no doubt will for generations to come.  Beginning November 12, 2021, Geffen/UMe commemorates the 30th anniversary of Nevermind with several multi-format reissues. A total of 94 audio and video tracks--70 previously unreleased--will be made available across configurations ranging from Super Deluxe Editions to standard digital/CD and single disc vinyl with bonus 7-inch. In all formats, Nevermind is newly remastered from the original half-inch stereo analog tapes to high-resolution 192kHz 24-bit.  For pre-orders, full track listings and release dates for all configurations go HERE.

- Garbage have announced details of their upcoming 20thanniversary reissue of the band’s third studio album, beautifulgarbage. The reissue will be released via UMe on November 5th, twenty years after the album was first available. The band have also revealed a previously unheard version of the album’s lead single “Androgyny.” The track features lyrical content and a message that was ahead of its time upon its initial release in 2001 and was also reflective of Garbage’s new, pop-leaning sound.  

Oh Wonder is back this week with new single “22 Break”, the title track from the unique duo’s surprise new album, 22 Break, out on October 8th. Listen and watch the video for “22 Break” HERE and pre-order 22 Break HERE.  The project was teased earlier this week by the cinematic visual for the short film set to accompany the record, which also previewed opening track “Baby”—watch HERE. All this follows 2020’s No One Else Can Wear Your Crown, and back-to-back top 10 albums from the band who have—on their own distinct terms—become one of UK pop’s more unsuspecting success stories (2.7 billion streams, 1.7 million adjusted album sales, and vocal fans in the likes of Billie Eilish, who covered “All We Do” during her Apple documentary).

Following last year’s 50th anniversaries of the era-defining albums, Tea for the Tillerman and Mona Bone Jakon, 2021 will see Yusuf / Cat Stevens celebrate the succeeding album that immortalized his status as a forerunner in the singer-songwriter movement. The 1971 multi-platinum selling landmark record, Teaser and the Firecat, will be celebrated as a 50th anniversary Super Deluxe Edition box set, due on November 12th, 2021 via A&M/UMe.  A previously unheard recording of the Cat Stevens classic and Teaser album highlight "Moonshadow (Olympic Studio Demo, 1970)" is released today. Actually recorded at Olympic before the release of the two 1970 albums, Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For The Tillerman, this version provides a fascinating insight into the origins of one of the most enduring songs of the 1970s. Listen HERE.

GRAMMY® Award-winning, multiplatinum singer, songwriter, producer, and actor, Anthony Hamilton releases his anxiously awaited tenth full-length and first album in five years, Love Is The New Black. It notably will be the flagship release under his own label My Music Box in partnership with BMG. Listen to Love Is The New Black — HEREHamilton’s influence courses through popular culture, and his voice continues to resound louder than ever. To pave the way for the album, he also took the stage in Brooklyn at Club Quarantine last week and will host a livestream performance of Love Is The New Black on Facebook Live on Monday, September 27 at 12pm PST // 3pm EST.

UMe releases an updated version of The Best Of Bond…James Bond, available as a digital download and a 2CD set; on October 8, 3LP black vinyl will be released, plus a limited-edition gold vinyl will be available exclusively via uDiscover Music and Sound of Vinyl. Each compilation features celebrated theme songs from the longest-running film franchise and includes “No Time To Die” by Billie Eilish from No Time To Die, the 25th film in the series*. Also now included will be Adele’s “Skyfall” from Skyfall, the highest-grossing Bond film to date, and Sam Smith’s Spectre theme, “Writing’s On the Wall,” – Oscar® winners for Best Song in 2013 and 2016, respectively. The Best Of Bond…James Bond is available for purchase and vinyl preorder here.

- "Champaign Ill," starring Adam Pally and Sam Richardson, streaming Tuesday, October 12th only on Hulu.  Every rapper has a crew he can't live without...and vice versa. In this new comedy starring Adam Pally (Happy Endings, The Mindy Project), Sam Richardson (Veep, Detroiters) and guest starring Jay Pharoah (Saturday Night Live, Ride Along), we see how long the crew can survive without being in the limelight.

SHOWTIME has given a series order to the elevated genre drama LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. Led by Oscar nominee Demián Bichir (A Better Life), the series also stars Tony winner Anika Noni Rose (DreamgirlsPower), Grace Gummer (Mr. Robot), Madison Taylor Baez (Selena: The Series), Kevin Carroll (Snowfall), Ian Foreman (Merry Wish-Mas) and Jacob Buster (Colony). Award-winning playwright, writer and producer Andrew Hinderaker (AwayPENNY DREADFUL), who wrote the pilot, will serve as showrunner and executive produce along with Seith Mann (HOMELAND#FreeRayShawn, Blindspotting), who directed the pilot and will also direct additional episodes. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is produced by Tomorrow Studios (Cowboy Bebop, Snowpiercer) with Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements also serving as executive producers. The 10-episode series will go into production in New York City in early 2022. 

Sunday, September 19, 2021

57 Channels and Only This Is on: September 19, 2021

 

Billions:  Saving Chuck’s dad when Chuck could not?  That may be the most underhanded thing anyone has done on this show.  But Chuck failed to bring down Axe own his own.  Still was not able to do it when he teamed up with Taylor (granted Taylor was trying to take Axe and Chuck down at the same time), can the trio of Chuck, Taylor, and Mike Prince finally be able to do it?  If the history of the show is indication, those three will turn on each other first; one will probably join up with Axe to do it.

 

The Walking Dead:  Big reveal at the beginning of the episode, but honestly I had no clue who that was until seeing the name listed as a guest star and that sort of jogged my memory.  But that is the problem with the show; I do not care about any new character because I just assume they are going to die before I get to know them.  But having Daryl escape from a burning building is a pretty warped initiation.

 

Y: The Last Man:  I came to the revelation watching the first couple episodes that I may be at my dystopian breaking point.  Just how many times do I really need to see the world end?  That first episode was particularly wasteful considering just by knowing the premise of the show we knew half the characters were going to die.  Plus I do not understand how it was so hard to get out of the Pentagon.  They got Y in, is getting out that much harder?  And is the crazy lady in Israel that much of a threat?  To be sworn in as president, don’t you need to be, you know, in America?  I cannot image it is going to be very easy to travel half way around the globe at this time.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  Tye-Dye Guy turned out to be exactly who I thought it was.  But are we buying his story?  Ignoring a fire alarm just to “talk” to Tim Kono still seems suspicious.  But now we know how all that jewelry ties into everything.

 

Stargirl:  The set up to the season seemed like a cool idea, Shiv creating her own Legion of Doom.  Except of of the people she tried to recruit rejected her and Stargirl’s brother just turned out to be bait, leaving her with just Artimis and Violin Boy who has barely gotten any screen time to the point I had no clue who he was when he was at the diner.  What a waste of a good idea which turned into a sad team.  Though I have no idea how Atimis could go punch for punch with Hour Man.  How can a girl who can throw a football last so long in a fight against a dude with superpowers?  One punch and she should be done.  They should have had her fight Wildcat which would have been a better match.  I could actual see Violin Boy neutralize Hour Man.  But now Shiv is dead… or least that is what Stargirl thinks, I am not convinced.  Maybe she is in the same place as the original Dr. Mid-Nite. 

 

Supergirl:  So Lena’s mom was a witch.  Huh?  But I guess that is very convenient for the Superfriends who currently are fighting an imp with magical powers that they do not have an answer for.

 

Nine Perfect Strangers:  Oh my, Regina Hall tried to kill Nicole Kidman.  And maybe not for the first time?  Are we to believe she was the one who shot Nicole Kidman?  Nicole Kidman just took a big dose of drugs with the family prior to that scene so was it a flashback or hallucination.

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  Is it still a bottle episode if the whole episode takes part on a boat?  But why was Ghostface asking tourist how long the ferry was?  Is this his first time going to Manhattan?  At least it seems like the beef was swashed and they can finally get down to making some music.  I kind of forgot why Divine and Power were beefing in the first place,

 

The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies: Uh oh, TJ is making a house call next week.  This week ended with Fessy laying hands on Josh.  Then there was also Esther throwing a drink on Bamber which could be seen as assault.  Granted was either offence as egregious as Josh and his two handed shove of Devin last season?  Granted that slap could be the start of something more.  But if this all leads to Fessy, and possibly Josh, getting the boot, then good riddance.  But if they do get rid of two guys, are they going to do two girl team eliminations to even things out?  Granted, Esther could be following her partner out the door.  Ugg, instead of a special one hour episode, they should have done a special to hour episode instead.

 

Titans:  Why was no one that concerned with the leak above Barbara’s desk?  That should be a big red flag.  But I have to go with Starfire in regards to not taking Jason back.  Where Beast Boy was being forced to do those things, Jason took the drugs; Scarecrow did not force it on him.  Get that boy in Arkham.  And where is Bruce in all this?  He has to come back now after the water supply gets tainted, right?