Around the Tubes: June 25, 2022

                    

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 Hulu movies, The Territory, Vice, James Bay, Marcus King, Kira Kosarin, KISS, The Black Beauty Effect, The Day the Music Died: The Story of Son McLean's "America Pie," and Syndrome K.

- The studios that brought you some of the biggest blockbusters and award-winning movies bring the big screen to your screen on Hulu. Stream classics like the "Predator" Franchise, new releases like "The Bob’s Burgers Movie," as well as new indie releases including "Minamata," and highly anticipated Hulu Original films "Not Okay" and "Prey," all summer long.  Hulu, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures present: "Get the Big Screen on Your Screen"

- THE TERRITORY provides an immersive look at the tireless fight of the Amazon’s Indigenous Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people against the encroaching deforestation brought by farmers and illegal settlers. With awe-inspiring cinematography showcasing the titular landscape and richly textured sound design, the film takes audiences deep into the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau community and provides unprecedented access to the farmers and settlers illegally burning and clearing the protected Indigenous land.  Partially shot by the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people, the film relies on vérité footage captured over three years as the community risks their lives to set up their own news media team in the hopes of exposing the truth.  The film will be released in theaters in select cities on Friday, Aug. 19, including New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Seattle and Austin, with a continued nationwide rollout to follow. THE TERRITORY premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition and won the Special Jury Award for Documentary Craft as well as the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award, followed by many other awards, including the True/False True Life Fund Recipient 2022, CPH:DOX Special Jury Mention, the Movies That Matter Activist Documentary Award, the Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Award for Best Documentary, the Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival Audience Award, the Provincetown International Film Festival John Schlesinger Documentary Award, the International Wildlife Film Festival Best Sustainable Planet Category Award and Best of Festival Award, the DocsBarcelona Amnesty International of Catalonia Award, and the MountainFilm Minds Moving Mountains Award.

- SHOWTIME announced that VICE will return to air starting Sunday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Currently airing its third season, the midseason finale will air this Sunday, June 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME, followed by a brief hiatus. Season three will come back with eight all-new episodes airing on Sundays, leading to the season finale on September 18. Known for delivering immersive reporting from the frontlines of global conflict, civil uprisings and more, VICE continues to cover groundbreaking stories from its team of global correspondents.  Watch and share the latest VICE trailer here:  https://youtu.be/N16hCKaP4d4.  In this Sunday’s midseason finale, VICE News' Alec Luhn reports from Moscow and Dagestan on how propaganda has convinced a majority of Russians to support Putin's bloody and costly invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, VICE News’ Ben C. Solomon travels to Kharkiv and Donbas to explore how the frontline has evolved since the start of the war in Ukraine.

-  Three-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated and BRIT Award-winning multi-platinum singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Bay reveals a new single entitled “Everybody Needs Someone.” Listen to “Everybody Needs Someone”—HERE. It’s the latest track to be released from his highly anticipated third full-length album, Leap, out July 8th via Mercury/Republic Records. Pre-order and pre-save Leap—HERE.  On the new track Bay said: “In these last couple weeks before Leap arrives, I want to share one more song with you. It’s called “Everybody Needs Someone. I love this song so much. I know in hindsight that despite lots of fun work and touring back in 2019 I wrote this song because I was feeling lost and alone. The feeling came like a quiet tidal wave. It really threw me around for a while. But thanks to the people closest to me in my life, I made it through that time. They know how to hold me up when I’m down. I hope you all love this song too. So excited for you to have it. x”

- Marcus King today announced the release of “Lie Lie Lie,” the latest preview track from his forthcoming solo album, Young Blood. The track premiered today with FLOOD Magazine. Shuffling rock drums, wild soloing and fuzzed out psychedelic guitar riffing combine into a towering sonic inferno. At the core of the blaze are King’s vocals, which share a revelation.  “‘Lie Lie Lie’ for me captures the spirit of this record.” King shared. “You can feel how natural the vibe was in the studio. This track showcases each player’s energy, it shines a light on the production and the SOUND of Easy Eye Sound. At the two-and-a-half-minute mark the band locks into a groove that becomes a sonic representation of why I do what I do! I LIVE for that feeling!”  Accompanying the song release, King released a live video, created at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studio, it features acclaimed musicians including Chris St. Hilaire on drums and Nick Movshon on bass. Watch it HERE.

- Gaining momentum with the steady release of new music, 24-year-old singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Kira Kosarin unveils a new music video for “goodbye & thank u” via Republic Records today. Watch the “goodbye & thank u” music video – HERE.  The song sees Kira nostalgically say goodbye to a chapter in her life before welcoming a new one.  “I wanted to write an ode to the first home that I moved into on my own, because it felt like a main character in my life through my early 20s. Those walls saw me live through so many firsts, held me through so many ups and downs and watched so many people come and go,” she says. “When I found that outgrowing and saying goodbye to an apartment could feel as bittersweet, intense, poignant, and heartbreaking as any other breakup - I poured all that emotion into this song and I hope it carries people through bittersweet and grateful goodbyes of all kinds.”

- On September 9, rock icons KISS will release the next installment of their popular Off The Soundboard official live bootleg series with KISS – Off The Soundboard: Live In Des Moines 1977, recorded during the Alive II tour at Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, IA on November 29, 1977.  This is the latest in a series of live releases by the band and will be available to stream and download, with a 17 song 2-LP standard black vinyl set, single CD, and a limited-edition 2-LP set pressed on 180g purple vinyl available exclusively through the Official KISS online store. All configurations of KISS – Off The Soundboard: Live In Des Moines 1977 are available to pre-order, HERE.

- Comcast NBCUniversal and FaceForward Productions announced their partnership for the upcoming docuseries The Black Beauty Effect, releasing this fall exclusively on the Black Experience on Xfinity channel, a first-of-its-kind destination of Black entertainment, movies, TV shows, news and more. From creator and executive producers Andrea Lewis (Degrassi: The Next Generation, Black Actress), Emmy-nominee CJ Faison (Giants & Junebug), and Jackie Aina and Kahlana Barfield Brown, the docuseries will closely examine the social change, past and present, within the beauty industry, through the lens of the successful Black women who have led the charge.  The Black Beauty Effect is a three-part docuseries capturing the current evolution, revolution, and disruption taking place within the beauty industry. Black beauty influencers, celebrities, and entrepreneurs have taken up the torch passed down from their pioneering predecessors. Each hour-long episode examines a different aspect of beauty – hair, skin, and makeup – through the lens of some of the beauty industry’s most iconic game-changers. The Black Beauty Effect peels back the gorgeous glow we see in advertisements to tell the ugly truths that have plagued the beauty industry for far too long.

-  Paramount+ recently announced that THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED: THE STORY OF DON McLEAN’S “AMERICAN PIE” will premiere exclusively on the service Tuesday, July 19, both in the U.S. and internationally where the service is available. Additionally, the documentary will have a special Academy qualifying run in New York City and Los Angeles starting on July 8 and will screen in Showcase Cinemas and associated theaters globally on July 14 and July 17.  With a narrative running deeper than a catchy tune and cryptic verses, “American Pie” is a musical phenomenon woven deep into the history of American culture, entertaining audiences around the world for over 50 years. In THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED: THE STORY OF DON McLEAN’S “AMERICAN PIE,” McLean will, for the first time, powerfully reveal and share the secrets behind his iconic song. In addition, the documentary highlights cultural moments in America’s history that are as relevant now as they were in 1971 when the song was released. The film tells stories of the people who were a part of this moment from the beginning and shows the point of view of a new generation of artists who are motivated by the same values and ideas that inspired the song’s creation.

- Freestyle Digital Media,  the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group has acquired North American rights from Insanely Practical Productions the second documentary film directorial effort from filmmaker Stephen Edwards’  (acclaimed composer of “Requiem for My Mother”, and musical contributor to award-winning films such as “Nomadland”, “Dallas Buyer’s Club”), captivating new documentary “Syndrome K.” “Syndrome K” will be available to rent and own on U.S. digital HD internet, and satellite platforms on August 16^th, 2022 through Freestyle Digital Media.  The last film to be narrated by acclaimed screen icon Ray Liotta (“Goodfellas,” “Field of Dreams”), “Syndrome K” shines a light on the truly amazing story of three Roman Catholic doctors, who created a highly contagious f ake disease during the Nazi Occupation of Rome to save Roman Jews in a Vatican-affiliated hospital from deportation to Auschwitz during WWII.

Previewing The Chi Season Five

 

There are plenty of benefits to the shorter seasons of six to twelve episodes.  But one thing that we typically lose in the shrinking of seasons from the twenty-two episodes strung out across nine months are less holiday episodes.  NBC experiments this year with special Christmas episodes of Young Rock and Mr. Mayor but usually these short seasons rarely acknowledge holidays.  Or they just do what The Chi is doing and airing a Christmas episode less than a week after Independence Day.  But hey, The Hallmark Channel celebrates Christmas in July every year.

 

And with record highs already across the nation, watching a show taking place in snowy Chicago may be just the reprieve we need this summer.  There is no big mystery that starts this season, no who shot the mayor, who killed Coogie, or what happened to Kiesha.  Well, unless you count how long will Emmitt say celibate for.  Yes, that is an actual storyline this season, but a mystery much easier to solve than previous ones on the show. 

 

Other low stakes questions being asked this season include will Jada stay will her younger man or get back with her baby daddy?  Will Papa and Jake make up after Papa goes hard on him in front of the whole school?  Will Kevin embrace his inner geek to get a girl?  Can Trig turn his community action into real change while running for city council?  Or more importantly, why is Trig rocking afro puffs this season?

 

The Chi airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.  New episodes are released early on Friday streaming and On Demand so you can watch the premiere now.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: June 19, 2022

 

The First Lady:  So the show ends with Eleanor losing her husband and getting a new job, Betty opening up a rehab facility and Michelle, well Michelle is dealing with a douchebag moving into her house.  I said it before, but way too soon to include Michelle on this show.  But it turns out that Eleanor ignores her children so much to the point I was surmised when the only child we saw said she had six.  We rarely saw any Ford children besides Susan, but they did show up.

 

The Man Who Fell to Earth:   There is home security and then is biological weapons than make someone’s head explode.  I think I have to concede that Newton is still alive after that plot, yet something still seems off with his conversations with Faraday.  I just get strong Kal-El talking to his dead parents in the Fortress of Solitude vibes from those scenes.  But then we get the explosive reveal at the end that Newton’s plan is to bring his people to Earth.  So what becomes of the humans?  Just how many of his people are left?  Will Faraday even go along with this?

 

I Love That for You:  Okay, I laughed so hard when Ryan Philippe came in at the end.  We were told he was a gust at the telethon, but I certainly was not expecting him to show up as the only to have an audio response to Joanne admitting she was not actually sick. I have predicted that Patricia would still want to profit off of the fake sickness if she ever found out, but now that Ryan knows, can she still keep up the ruse?

 

In the Dark:  So Murphy is out already… with the drug lord drugs with her.  Oops.  So that is why Darnell get shot?

 

The Challenge: All Stars: There have been dumb answers throughout the years in trivia, but “Lance Armstrong” being the first person on the moon is up there as the dumbest ever.  But it was nice to see The Treehouse go from the majority to the minority in two short weeks.  No confirmation from TJ, but will be actually have the final start next week without the Sabotage anymore?  Based on the episode count, seems like there will be one more elimination.  Maybe the mercenaries is why we no longer have a sabotage.

 

Obi Wan Kenobi:  If the Third Sister was really hunting Darth Vader this whole time to get revenge for her fellow younglings, why has she not done it already?  I am pretty sure she was alone with him an episode or two ago.  But anyway.  Gotta love any plan that hinges on a ten year old understand advanced electronics.  Why exactly did they build that place so small no normal human person could fit into it?

 

Ms. Marvel:  Illumin-aunties may have been the greatest nickname ever.  So the new dude is evil (calling him your cousin is a weird way to hide your crush’s identity)?  Never trust a dude who recreates Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  Though his mom might be the real Big Bad.

 

Players:  I really enjoyed American Vandal and only gave this show a try because it was by the same people.  I am not sure it is because I know nothing about e-sports or the key of the other show was potty humor and this show lacks it, but, man, this show I boring.