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Movies are awfully long these days. The long-awaited first Avatar sequel was even longer than the quite long original. Most comic book movies average about two-and-a-half hours. Even the fourth John Wick — whose first entry was a lean 100 minutes, all about a guy killing everyone because some shnook killed his puppy — clocked in at nearly three hours. So what about Air, the movie about the creation of a shoe? Is it another movie that could use an intermission?

The answer is nope. It “only” runs 112 minutes. That’s almost a short film in this era of butt-numb-a-thons. Granted, even that may seem long if you don’t think a movie about a shoe sounds all that interesting. But for most it may be a perfect length — enough to get into the nitty gritty of a surprisingly fascinating (and entertaining!) subject, not so long that you’ll have to consider what you drink or eat beforehand lest you risk missing something good when you nip off to the restroom.

Air is also a Mulligan for director-star Ben Affleck and his co-star Matt Damon. Back in 2021, the Good Will Hunting boys reunited for The Last Duel, which took them back to Medieval France. (That one ran a whopping 153 minutes, but it also had to tell the same story from three very different perspectives, the conclude with the titular duel.) This one too runs the chance of being unfairly ignored by multiplex viewers, who have been primed over the last decade-plus to only turn out in droves for blockbusters. But maybe the draw of Michael Jordan — who’s never even depicted in it on-screen — combined with some stunning ’80s looks can get people out.

In Air, Affleck, who hasn’t directed a movie since the poorly received gangster pic Live by Night, plays Sonny Vaccaro, the cocky sports marketing exec brought in by Nike honcho Phil Knight (Damon) to save a floundering Nike. Affleck, who didn’t write it, demanded Viola Davis play Jordan’s mom.

Air is now in theaters. And when you throw in trailers, you should be out of the theater roughly 130 minutes after you arrive.

FTR pinned the Gunns to become the new AEW tag team champions in the Titles vs. Career main event of Dynamite from Long Island.

The match opened with Austin and Colten using classic tag team wrestling to beat down on Cash Wheeler and keep him away from Dax Harwood. Harwood eventually got the hot tag and took the action to The Gunns. Harwood and Wheeler tagged in and out, eventually hitting the Shatter Machine, but Colten pulled the referee out to avoid the three count.

After a series of false finishes, Austin attempted to get a disqualification with a low blow on Harwood. When that didn’t work, Austin and Colten hit 310 to Yuma on Wheeler to get him out of the ring, and when Harwood went for a diving headbutt, he learned that Colten slid a belt into the ring and hit him with it for a close two count.

But ultimately, both Harwood and Wheeler were able to roll up the Gunns, with both wrestlers getting three counts as a result.

In January, Harwood discussed Tony Khan allowing the duo to take time away to “sit back, reflect, decide” on where they’d sign their next deal with their contracts set to expire.

“By April, we will have an answer. I have to take my health, my family, my creativity, and I have to take my personal life all in consideration about what we’re going to do next. I know what I want to do, but whatever we do, I just want to be respected,” Harwood said at the time, per TJR Wrestling. “I feel we have done something so special in 2022 and most of that is in part to the fans. We deserve to continue to build on our legacy for ourselves, but also we owe it to the fans to build on that legacy because they made us this past year. I’m not sure exactly how long we’ll be away. It may be all the way until the end of our contract. Our contract is up in April.”

There’s no question where FTR’s future lies now, with a clear path forward in AEW.

Five years after ALL IN became the launching pad for All Elite Wrestling, the promotion is making its highly-anticipated UK debut in London on Sunday, August 27, at All In from Wembley Stadium.

“The UK is one of the most important markets in professional wrestling, and AEW is coming in hot as the number one wrestling company in the UK on television,” said AEW CEO Tony Khan via a press release. “We want our debut in London to be epic in scale, and there’s no better venue than Wembley Stadium to deliver what I know will be one of the greatest events in AEW’s history. This April also marks 100 years of Warner Bros. and 100 years of Wembley Stadium – it’s a fitting time to come together for ‘AEW: All In London at Wembley Stadium.’”

Details from the press release announce All In London will be a homecoming for several top stars including AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter, Saraya, Nigel McGuinness, Pac, Anthony Ogogo, and more.

AEW’s move to bring wrestling back to Wembley comes after WWE saw incredible success hosting Clash at the Castle in Cardiff, Wales. Wembley also played host to one of the most iconic Intercontinental championship matches in WWE history, when British Bulldog won the championship from Bret Hart in 1992.

Sting and Shaggy appeared on The Breakfast Club in March 2018. About six minutes into the conversation, Sting was asked about rappers who have requested clearances to sample his songs, including Diddy.

“Is it true that Diddy has to pay you two grand a day because he didn’t ask permission to sample [The Police’s] ‘Every Breath You Take’?” Charlamagne Tha God asked about Diddy’s 1997 No. 1 single “I’ll Be Missing You.”

“Yeah, for the rest of his life,” Sting jokingly responded. “If it’s on the radio, then it must be true!” he said before clarifying that Diddy actually did ask for permission at some point. Sting said he and Diddy were “very good friends now” and wasn’t “at all” upset about the sample. In fact, he was “very happy” because “it was a beautiful version of that song.”

A 22-second snippet of the exchange circulated on Twitter on Wednesday, April 5, and Diddy chimed in, writing, “Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting!”

The truth probably resides somewhere in the middle, but regardless, Sting isn’t relying on extra cash from Diddy or anyone else. The New York Times broke the news in February 2022 that Sting sold his solo recording catalog and The Police songwriting catalog to Universal Music Group for an estimated $300 million.

A lot of far right figures are currently caught up in legal hell. Donald Trump just showed up in a Manhattan courtroom to be arraigned. Meanwhile, the network that disseminated some of his and cronies’ voter fraud nonsense has a trial right around the corner. The pricey Fox News-Dominion case is set to begin on April 17, and some big names have already been called to testify, including stars Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. Now they’ve added some even bigger big wigs.

As per The New York Times, Judge Eric M. Davis announced that if Dominion were to call Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox Corporation, he“would not quash it.” In fact, he “would compel them to come.” As it happens, Dominion lawyers have said they’d want not only Murdoch to show up, but also his son Lachlan as well as Paul Ryan, the former speaker of the House and current Fox board member.

Murdoch would be an almost certainly damning witness in the trial, especially given that during a deposition earlier this year, he admitted he knew the voter fraud mishegoss his stars were spouting on air was bull. It’s one thing for stars like Hannity and Carlson to have been caught admitting they knew they were deceiving Fox News viewers. But the big kahuna knowing it and letting it happen anyway? That’s probably not going to be great for Fox News’ case.

Murdoch is a good get for Dominion, as are Hannity and Carlson, and the same goes for other hosts who are expected to take the stand, including Jeanine Pirro, Breit Baier, Dana Perino, and Maria Bartiromo. Lou Dobbs, who left the network last year, is on the docket, too. Fox News originally said their on-air hosts should not have to testify at the trial because they all sat for video depositions. They changed their tune on Tuesday, offering them up for more rounds of questioning.

So get ready for a lot of conservatives winding up in court, where they may have to reap what they allegedly sowed.

(Via NYT)

The Montreux Jazz Festival is shaping up to be the ultimate Venn diagram for music fans. The festival’s lineup was revealed today, April 5, and boasts Bob Dylan, Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, Jon Batiste, Janelle Monáe, Gayle, Ayra Starr, Rema, Ava Max, Wet Leg, and more still.

As part of the announcement, Montreux Jazz Festival clarified that Bob Dylan’s show on July 1 “will be in a seated configuration to reflect the intimate atmosphere of his tour,” limiting availability. An insider pre-sale was held Wednesday, and the public sale is scheduled for tomorrow, April 6. Ticketing information can be found here.

Billboard noted that this will mark Dylan’s first appearance at the festival “in a decade,” and he will perform songs off his 2020 album Rough And Rowdy Ways.

The Montreux Jazz Festival will be held at Auditorium Stravinski and Montreux Jazz Lab on Lake Geneva, Switzerland. It’s set to open on June 30, with Tom Odell and Simply Red at Auditorium Stravinski and Jimi Jules and Rufus Du Sol at Montreux Jazz Lab.

Lil Nas X is scheduled to take over Auditorium Stravinski on July 4, followed by Sam Smith on July 5, and Generation Sex and Iggy Pop on July 6. Montreux Jazz Lab will be occupied by Gayle, Cavetown, and Caroline Polachek on July 3, followed by Ayra Starr and Rema on July 4.

Mavis Staples, Norah Jones, Maluma, Seal, Buddy Guy, Nile Rodgers, Stacey Ryan, Calum Scott, Dean Lewis, Christine And The Queens, Ethan Bortnick, Maisie Peters, Lovejoy, Idles, Jacob Banks, and Mark Ronson are also scheduled to perform between June 30 and July 15.

View the full schedule below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Atlanta Hawks are trying to figure out what they’re going to need to do to make the postseason this year. Entering Wednesday night’s slate of games, Atlanta sat in the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference, and while they need a miracle to get up to the 6-seed, the more likely answer is their path will take them through the play-in. Of course, the objective there is to get the 7 or 8-seed, so the team will have two chances to win one game in order to make it to the postseason.

Fortunately for the Hawks, Wednesday’s game in Atlanta was against a Washington Wizards team that they’ve beaten twice already this season and is eliminated from postseason contention. At the bare minimum, the game is going to end up being remembered because Clint Capela did something completely ludicrous to register a steal.

Jordan Goodwin drove to the rim, where he was promptly met by the big fella. While he originally looked like he wanted to go up for a layup, he tried to wrap around Capela for a pass to someone else. It never got there, though, because Capela threw his arm out and managed to steal the ball.

It is unclear how Capela did this, but regardless, it is very impressive.

Indigo De Souza is inching closer to the April 28 release of her album All Of This Will End, and on Wednesday, she processed the end of a toxic relationship in her video for “You Can Be Mean.”

“I wrote ‘You Can Be Mean’ about a brief toxic experience I had with a manipulative and abusive LA model f*ckboy. However brief, it had a life-long impact on my understanding of self,” De Souza wrote in a statement posted on Instagram. “Leading up to that experience, I had a history of putting myself in toxic situations and pining for validation from people who treated me poorly. I was stuck in some delusion that I could help abusive people through their trauma and teach them to love me in the way I deserved. I wrote this song when I finally realized that I could choose not to allow harmful behavior into my life, and that there is a deep, deep importance in protecting the body and spirit.”

She continued, “I stopped caring about validation from a**holes, stopped thinking it was my responsibility to help them, and started caring for myself in a real way. Once I made that switch in my psyche, I began to manifest truly loving, safe, kind, and communicative people into my life. Being loved in the way I deserve begins with loving myself in the way I deserve. Boundaries are so important. The body is a sacred and fragile thing and it deserves every ounce of care.”

De Souza spoke with Uproxx about her mindset while writing All Of This Will End last month.

“I was living alone and I had a lot of time on my hands because we were in lockdown,” she said. “Everything was in this standstill, and I was watching all of the systems that I’d been surrounded by my whole life fall apart, and people that said they knew what they were doing didn’t know what they were doing. It felt like this huge veil was lifted off America, and we were just seeing everything for what it has been the whole time but it’s been hiding itself. It was just so ugly.”

Things could be going a lot better for the Dallas Mavericks right now. Despite pulling off a gigantic trade at the deadline to acquire Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas finds itself facing quite the uphill climb down the home stretch of the season, as the team is a half-game back of the Oklahoma City Thunder (which hold the tiebreaker between the two teams) for the 10-seed in the Western Conference with three games left to play.

The last thing the team wants right now is something that pulls attention away from what they need to do on the coach, but on Wednesday, something less than ideal popped up. Tim Hardaway — the Hall of Fame guard whose son, Tim Jr., plays for the Mavs — went onto FS1’s The Carton Show and expressed his belief that Dallas does not have a leader. To make matters worse, Hardaway specifically mentioned Irving and Luka Doncic.

“They’re missing a leader,” Hardaway said. “They’re missing a leader out there. Luka is not a leader, Kyrie is not a leader. Jalen Brunson was a leader.”

Mentioning Brunson on the heels of Doncic saying earlier in the week that the team misses him “a lot” is especially harsh. The issue is that Hardaway did not appear to run this take by his son first, and prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings, the younger Hardaway told the press that he disagrees with his dad “1000%.”

Wednesday night’s game against Sacramento is the first in a three-game homestand to close the season for the Mavericks, which includes games against Chicago and San Antonio.

It’s fitting that Pharrell is a mononym because he is a one-of-a-kind. Speaking with The Guardian earlier this year, the music and fashion icon shared how he’s remained ageless.

This interview is worth revisiting today, April 5, which is his 50th birthday.

“I have been dealing with my dermatologist for 26 years,” Pharrell told The Guardian. “It’s a combination of things. One is understanding that I needed to be curious about how my skin works, what works for it, and then coming up with some sort of regimen and being committed to it. That’s what led us to stepping into skin health [Williams launched a vegan skincare range called Humanrace in 2020].”

He continued, “Once you understand that you have to be curious about how your skin behaves or conducts itself, that’s when you realize there’s a routine for you. Then be committed; that’s when you have success. The second part was just through experimentation – trying everything out, from over-the-counter to prescription.”

Even if there’s an explanation for it, fans simply won’t accept that Pharrell is 50:

“HBD to my brother @Pharrell… I’ve been around for almost half of the 50, and I gotta say, you’re just getting started,” Justin Timberlake tweeted.

It appears that Pharrell rang in the milestone with the likes of Nigo, Pusha T, and Steven Victor. Fans will have the opportunity to celebrate belatedly at Something In The Water Festival later this month.