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There's still a long way to go before Grammy nominations this fall, but Tate McRae's third studio album, So Close to What, has gotten a major boost in the weeks since it dropped on Feb. 21. McRae has leapt into the top 10 of our official odds for Album of the Year. There will be eight available slots in the category, so she's not quite in nominations position yet, but she's on the rise, and may stick around if her album performs consistently in the coming weeks and months.

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So Close to What debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 177,000 equivalent album units. That was by far the biggest week of her career in sales, streams, and total units, up from the 66,000 units achieved by her previous album Think Later when it launched at No. 4 in 2023. Before that, her debut studio album,...

The cover of Tate McRae’s third album shows the pop spitfire lounging on a floor, her back turned to the viewer as she gazes at a floor-to-ceiling portrait of herself in profile — head thrown back, eyes closed, holding a facial expression that seems like she’s on the verge of doing something. That sort of self-scrutiny is common for the 21-year-old singer, who recently told Rolling Stone that she has a “never-ending loop” of thoughts on her self, her success, and her satisfaction. Her perpetual-motion mind has made her...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Before!

Apple TV+'s Before includes very few songs in the soundtrack, making them all the more impactful and meaningful when they do appear. The psychological thriller follows the mysterious connection between a child psychologist and widower named Eli and a troubled young boy in the foster care system named Noah. After its release, the Billy Crystal show received extremely divided responses, with critics almost unilaterally debasing the show as boring, slow, and repetitive. The only part of the show they appreciate is Billy Crystal, the lead member of the cast in Before.

However, viewers were much more positive about Before, praising the slow-burn pacing and central mystery. One element that wasnt been discussed much by either group is the soundtrack of Before. The reason this has been all but ignored is because there are almost no songs in the Apple TV+ original show,...

After yesterday’s rumors and confusion, we now know that Hong Kong director and cinematographer Corey Yuen has died. Interestingly, according to the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, Yuen passed away in 2022, but the media kept his death a secret at the request of his family. While the Federation did not reveal a date of death, we know the Righting Wrongs, The Transporter, and Doa: Dead or Alive director died of complications from Covid-19. On Monday, news about Mr. Yuen’s death was revealed on Chinese-language social media by action legend Jackie Chan, who trained alongside Yuen under Sammo Hung Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, and Yuen Biao at the Peking Opera School.

Corey Yuen started as an actor, contributing to 114 projects and playing roles in films like The Jade Raksha, Long ya Jian, Ai Nu, Brutal Boxer, and more. He worked alongside cinema’s greatest martial artists, including Chan, Michelle Yeoh,...

Corey Yuen, the actor, action choreographer and director of “So Close” and “Doa: Dead or Alive,” died in 2022, the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers confirmed to Variety.

Local and English-language reports say that Yuen died of Covid-19 on an undisclosed date in Hong Kong. He was born on Feb. 15, 1951 as Ying Gang-ming.

His death was initially kept private at the request of his family. But on Monday, the news was revealed on Chinese-language social media by fellow action star Jackie Chan, who paid tribute to Yuen and others in the industry who had died.

Yuen and Chan were contemporaries and trained together with Sammo Hung Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu and Yuen Biao at the Peking Opera School. Together, they were sometimes referred to as the Seven Little Fortunes or The Lucky Seven and made their mark during the heyday of Hong Kong cinema from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

Reliably one of the most euphoric and rewarding events on the circuit, the New York Asian Film Festival emerged at a time when hardcore cinephiles were forced to import prohibitively expensive foreign-region DVDs if they wanted to watch the latest hits from the other side of the world, and the first editions of the fest — then hosted at the Anthology Film Archives — got a major boost by screening hard-to-find cult objects and/or future classics at a time when Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean cinema were all on the rise to one degree or another.

No disrespect to the prestigious New York Film Festival, but Nyaff beat them to the punch when it comes to major auteurs like Park Chan-wook, whose “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” screened at the 2002 event alongside millennial breakouts like Corey Yuen’s “So Close,” unheralded pop masterpieces like Fumihiko Sori’s “Ping Pong,” and what the fuck did I just witness?...

3rd Secret, the grunge supergroup featuring members of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam, have quietly released a second full-length album, cleverly titled The 2nd 3rd Secret.

Without much fanfare, the band dropped the new album on Friday (June 23rd) following the release of a new single, “Ditch.” An official live video for “Ditch” was unveiled today (June 26th).

3rd Secret feature a trio of grunge royalty — bassist Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), guitarist Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), and drummer Matt Cameron (Soundgarden and Pearl Jam) — alongside Bubba DuPree (Void) and singers Jillian Raye (from Novoselic’s band Giants in the Trees) and Jennifer Johnson.

The band released its self-titled debut album in April 2022, playing their first live performance that same month at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle.

Check out the live video for “Ditch” and stream The 2nd 3rd Secret in its entirety below.

The 2nd 3rd Secret Artwork:

The 2nd...

Also known as The Lady Dragon, Cynthia Rothrock first started acting in Hong Kong films in the 1980s following a very successful career as a competition martial artist. She holds 5 black belts and is ranked 8th Dan Grandmaster. She competed against men for a good part of her competition days due to there not always being a women’s category, where she won many times over. Her achievement in the martial arts world got her the first female cover of Karate Illustrated and her film career is filled with action and a bit of humor. Here are 5 of the best Cynthia Rothrock movies:

Yes, Madam (1985)

Her very first movie role, the part of Inspector Carrie Moss was designed for Rothrock and her skills, or so it would seem while watching the film. Directed by Corey Yuen and co-starring Michelle Yeoh, a woman who needs no introduction at this point, the...

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "Doa: Dead or Alive"

Where You Can Stream It: Tubi, Vudu, Redbox, Freevee, Plex

The Pitch: Based on the hit fighting game franchise, "Doa: Dead or Alive" tells the story of a group of fighters from all over the world who convene to win $10 million dollars or, potentially, die trying.

The cast is vast, but taking center stage are the professional wrestling Tina (Jaime Pressly), her overbearing father Bass (Kevin Nash), the ninja princess Kasumi (Devon Aoki), the sultry super thief Christie (Holly Valance), the girl next door Helena (Sarah Carter), and the mysterious Donovan (Eric Roberts), who runs the fighting tournament and eventually downloads everyone's fighting skills into nanobots controlled by super sunglasses. Along the way they fight,...

The Television Academy named four new members to its board of directors on Monday.

The new members include “Access Hollywood” host Scott Evans, Village Roadshow Entertainment group executive vice president of television Alix Jaffe, Madison Media Management chariman and CEO Paula Williams Madison and Babette Perry, a partner at Innovative Artists’ Broadcast Division, to its board of directors.

Evans, Jaffe, Madison and Perry have been elected to serve three-year terms, effective immediately.

Also Read:

Television Academy Appoints Casey Bloys, Gloria Calderón Kellett to 2023 Executive Committee

Additionally, four officers have been re-elected to the board for two-year terms.

They include Foundation chair, Banijay chairman of the Americas and Endemol Shine Holdings president and CEO Cris Abrego; treasurer and A+E Networks executive vice president of global content sales Deborah Bradley; secretary and Billie Greer Consulting public policy advisor Billie Greer; and vice chair and Bunim/Murray co-founder and executive consultant Jonathan Murray.

Tommy Lane, an actor and stuntman who appeared in such classic films as Shaft and Live and Let Die, died Monday at Fort Lauderdale’s Florida Medical Center after a long battle with Copd. He was 83.

His daughter, Kamala Lane, confirming his passing to Deadline.

Born on December 17, 1937, in Miami, Lane primarily was active as an actor from the 1960s through the 1990s. In Gordon Parks’ classic 1971 private eye thriller Shaft, he played gangster Bumpy Jonas’ (Moses Gun) hitman, Leroy, who memorably is dragged up steps and thrown out of a window by Richard Roundtree’s detective John Shaft. In Guy Hamilton’s 1973 Bond film Live and Let Die, starring Roger Moore, he portrayed Adam, a gangster and enforcer reporting to Yaphet Kotto’s Mr. Big and Julius Harris’ Tee Hee.

Yaphet Kotto Dies: Bond Villain, ‘Homicide’ Star, ‘Alien’ & ‘Midnight Run’ Actor Was 81

Lane’s film credits also include Cotton Comes to Harlem...

Exclusive: The Just For Laughs comedy festival has revealed the participants and gameplan for its 2021 New Faces, its marquee discovery stand-up showcase that over the years has served as a launching pad for up-and-coming talent like Jimmy Fallon, Gabriel Iglesias, Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Ali Wong and Pete Davidson to name a few.

It is part of this year’s edition of the festival, which kicks off today and runs through Saturday featuring in-person stand-up shows in its home base of Montreal as well as for the first time shows in Los Angeles and New York City because of travel restrictions due to the pandemic.

New Faces is also adjusting. For the first time since 1996, the New Faces and New Faces: Characters series will be taking place in Los Angeles, while New Faces: Canada will take place in Montreal. All four showcases will be streamed online for all ComedyPRO pass...

Exclusive: Two-time Primetime Emmy winner Maya Rudolph, Yvette Nicole Brown and Jayma Mays are boarding Disenchanted, the Disney+ Enchanted sequel starring Amy Adams, Idina Menzel and James Marsden

Disney Studios’ President of Production Sean Bailey announced the sequel at Disney Investor Day back in December. Adams, Menzel and Marsden are reprising their respective roles of Giselle, Nancy and Prince Edward from the original film, with composer Alan Menken also returning. He said during a Jlgb Virtual livestream that Marsden and Menzel would be returning for Disenchanted.

The 2007 live-action movie was a satire on Disney animated princess musicals, a fish-out-of-water tale about a cartoon princess who is submerged in modern-day New York City. I hear Rudolph will play a villain in the sequel with Brown and Mays also potentially portraying evil as well.

Adam Shankman is directing for a production start later this spring. Producers are Barry Josephson, Adams, and Barry Sonnenfeld.

Marvelous Marvin Hagler died Saturday, his wife confirmed today, on his Facebook fan page. The iconic middleweight boxer and actor was 66.

“Today unfortunately my beloved husband Marvelous Marvin passed away unexpectedly at his home here in New Hampshire,” wrote Kay G. Hagler. “Our family requests that you respect our privacy during this difficult time.”

The cause of the boxer’s death was not confirmed.

Born in Newark, New Jersey on May 23, 1954, Hagler set out in his boxing career in 1969, going on to compete from 1973, through his abrupt, career-ending loss to “Sugar” Ray Leonard in April of 1987. Between 1980 and 1987, he enjoyed an extended reign as undisputed middleweight champion. Throughout his career in the ring, Hagler went 62-3-2, boasting 52 knockouts. Ultimately, he would be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, as well as the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Following his departure from the boxing world, Hagler moved to Italy,...

Disney Studios President of Production Sean Bailey made official Thursday an Enchanted sequel, Disenchanted, which will star Amy Adams and go straight to Disney+.

The 2007 live-action movie was a satire on Disney animated princess musicals, a fish-out-of water tale about a cartoon princess who is submerged in modern day New York City.

Bailey didn’t provide details about the project during his presentation at the Disney Investor Day, but at one point Adam Shankman was attached to direct. The first movie was nominated for three Oscars in the Best Song category for Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz’s tunes “Happy Working Song,” “So Close” and “That’s How You Know..”

The movie grossed over $340 million worldwide.

Back when he was a fledgling songwriter with a new publishing deal, Michael Hardy was hanging out with his dad and a friend at the Nashville drinking establishment Tin Roof. He had only a few dollars to his name, so he bought a tall Pbr for six bucks and nursed it as slowly as possible. Across the room, he spotted a pretty young woman glancing at her phone and looking around for someone. Summoning his courage, Hardy approached and asked if she’d like to sit with them until her friend arrived.

Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes and Lizzo all picked up multiple nominations for the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Awards, set to air live March 29th on Fox at 8 p.m. Et.

Eilish, Grande and Lizzo are all up for Female Artist of the Year, alongside Halsey and Taylor Swift, while Mendes will compete for Male Artist of the year against Khalid, Ed Sheeran, Luke Combs and Post Malone. The Song of the Year category boasts Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” Mendes and Camila Cabello’s “Señorita,...

Bruno Ganz with Christopher Plummer in Atom Egoyan's Remember: "There was a beautiful stillness to his piercing intelligence ..."

Bruno Ganz died on February 15 at his home in Zurich at the age of 77. A star in three Wim Wenders films - Wings Of Desire; Faraway, So Close! and The American Friend' Ganz played the voice of death, Verge, in Lars von Trier's The House That Jack Built.

Atom Egoyan worked with Bruno Ganz, who played Rudy Kurlander #1 in Remember, which starred Martin Landau and Christopher Plummer. Atom sent the following tribute to me this morning.

"It was such an honour to work with this legendary actor. I will never forget the time we spent together, which I treasured. We talked a lot about theatre, and I always had the sense that the stage...

Bruno Ganz, whose best-known roles were portraying the extremes of an angel and Adolph Hitler, died in Zurich at age 77 on Friday. His cause of death was colon cancer, according to representatives.

His memorable portrayal of German dictator Adolph Hitler in 2004’s Downfall was considered Ganz’s biggest role. But his appearance as an angel in the 1987 Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire also drew accolades. He later reprised that role in the 1993 follow, Faraway, So Close!

Among his other critically hailed roles included appearances in Stephen Daldry’s Oscar-nominated The Reader (2008), Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu, the Jonathan Demme remake of The Manchurian Candidate and Franklin J. Schaffner’s The Boys from Brazil.

But it was the role of Hitler that truly made Ganz. Some criticized him for humanizing the brutal dictator, but Ganz’s portrayal later became popular in the social media age, as clever meme creators gave people...

Comedian Maysoon Zayid is developing a comedy series inspired by her own life at ABC called “Can-Can,” Variety has learned.

The single-camera project follows the life of a Muslim woman who has Cerebral Palsy (Zayid), as she struggles to find love, the right career, and discover who she is separate of her opinionated Muslim parents. ABC has given the project a script commitment with a penalty attached.

Zayid will write and executive produce in addition to starring. Joanna Quraishi will also write and executive produce. “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes will executive produce along with Todd Milliner via their Hazy Mills production banner. Universal Television, where Hazy Mills is under an overall deal, will produce.

Zayid is an actress, comedian, and disability activist. She was born in New Jersey and is of Palestenian descent. In addition to her stand up, she had a role in the Adam Sandler film...

Shameless vet Noel Fisher is headed back to the Windy City.

The actor will co-star in the CBS drama pilot Red Line as a Chicago cop who shot an African-American doctor in a convenience store, our sister site Deadline reports.

More from TVLineTVLine Items: Garrett Dillahunt Joins High Potential, Harley Quinn Spinoff Trailer and MoreChicago Med's S. Epatha Merkerson, Oliver Platt and Marlyne Barrett Have Officially Signed On for Season 10Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy and Milly Alcock to Lead Netflix's Dark Comedy Sirens

The potential series will follow three different families that have a connection to the case as...

As reported by Deadline, Sasheer Zamata is set to star in So Close, an NBC comedy pilot from Life In Pieces writer Greg Malins. The pilot will also star Sean Kleier from Odd Mom Out, with him and Zamata playing two “hopeless romantics” who don’t know each other even though they’re destined to fall in love and “live…

Read more...

Having experienced plenty of American Crime, Timothy Hutton is now turning his attention to the legal system.

The actor will co-star in the CBS drama pilot Main Justice, which is inspired by the life and work of Eric Holder, the first African-American Attorney General of the United States, our sister site Deadline reports.

Hutton will play Deputy Attorney General Thomas Yarrow, who was the interim Attorney General prior to the recently sworn-in Miles Blair (Fargo‘s Bokeem Woodbine). Yarrow — whose ego is only matched by the money he spends on his wardrobe — is immediately critical of Blair’s decisions.

In other pilot casting news,...

Tyler Ritter is headed back to The CW, where he recurred on Arrow as Detective Billy Malone.

The actor will headline the network’s dysfunctional-family dramedy pilot Playing Dead, our sister site Deadline reports.

The potential series from writers Rina Mimoun and Josh Reims (Mistresses, Everwood) centers around a mortician and his teenage son whose lives are turned upside down when the woman who abandoned them 15 years ago returns and asks them to fake her death. Ritter, who starred on CBS’ short-lived comedy The McCarthys, will play the wry father/funeral home director.

In other pilot casting news:

* Scandal‘s...

Former Girl Meets World star Sabrina Carpenter has landed a supporting role in NBC comedy pilot So Close from Greg Malins, Hazy Mills and Universal TV. Written by Friends and Will & Grace alum Malins, So Close centers on hopeless romantics Riley & Kyle. At crossroads in their separate lives, they are close to settling for the wrong partner, unaware that they live only blocks apart and may be each other's soul mates. Malins, Hazy Mills’ Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner…...

Punam Patel (Kevin From Work) has landed a series regular role in NBC comedy pilot So Close, from Hazy Mills. Written by Friends and Will & Grace alum Greg Malins, So Close centers on hopeless romantics Riley & Kyle. At a crossroads in their separate lives, they are close to settling for the wrong partner, unaware that they live only blocks apart and might be each other's soul mates. Malins, Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner executive produce. Patel will play Dhara, whose…...