MUSIC

Petition for Lupita Nyong'o to Start a Rap Career

The star showed off her rapping capabilities on last night's episode of The Tonight Show.

Lupita Nyong'o has already given us so much.

She's performed incredible roles in a variety of films, from Us to Black Panther. She's stunned Oscars audiences and fueled awards show dreams. She's spoken out about social issues like sexual harassment and colorism, and is writing a children's book about the latter.

It seems that there's nothing she can't do. On last night's episode of Jimmy Fallon, she showed us that if she wanted, she could easily take over the music industry. Appearing as her alter ego "Troublemaker," she once again proved that she has a talent for rhythm and wordplay.

This isn't the first time she's shown off her rap capabilities. On the way to the Black Panther premier in 2018, she gave us a glimpse of her freestyling alongside Letitia White. She also rapped alongside the cast of Us in another YouTube video.

Us Movie Cast Rap Video Jordan Peeles Us(Lupita Nyongo,Winson Duke)www.youtube.com

In 2017, she appeared alongside Chrissy Teigen in Comedy Central's Lip Sync Battle and showed off her dancing abilities. The pieces are all there, and judging by the signs, it'll only be a matter of time before we get our first Troublemaker mixtape.

Welcome back to "Now in Theaters: 5 New Movies for the Weekend."

This week we have Jordan Peele's highly anticipated movie, Us.

WIDE RELEASE:

Us

Director Jordan Peele's follow up to his 2017 hit, Get Out, Us, features a family of four who find themselves targeted by an evil group of strangers who look exactly like them. The trailer suggests a movie chock full of terrifying, borderline-surreal imagery alongside the genuinely hilarious comedic notes that made Get Out such a success. The movie currently boasts a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so if you can stomach the horror, this is my main recommendation for the weekend.

LIMITED RELEASE:

Ramen Shop

Ramen Shop Trailer #1 (2019) | Movieclips Indiewww.youtube.com

A Singaporean film, Ramen Teh or Ramen Shop, tells the story of a Japanese ramen chef who travels to Singapore after discovering his Singaporean mother's notebook amongst his recently deceased father's belongings. He travels with the purpose of learning more about his family history, ultimately finding romance and a greater connection to food. The trailer features some gorgeous shots of ramen, so if you're into stories about the power of great food, Ramen Shop may be worth your while.

Dragged Across Concrete

Dragged Across Concrete (2019 Movie) Official Trailer – Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenterwww.youtube.com

Vince Vaughn and Mel Gibson star as two cops gone bad in director S. Craig Zahler's newest crime thriller. After Gibson's act of police brutality leads to his and his partner's suspension from the force, the disgraced cops use their underworld connections to secure financial support while they're off-duty. Zahler has a knack for depicting violence, as evidenced by his previous feature Bone Tomahawk, so it stands to reason Dragged Across Concrete will have a similar flair.

Hotel Mumbai

HOTEL MUMBAI Official Trailer (2019) Dev Patel, Armie Hammer Moviewww.youtube.com

A thriller based on the real 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India, Hotel Mumbai stars Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) as a hotel employee working his shift when the terrorists strike. Now, Dev, his fellow staff members, and a number of guests, including Armie Hammer, must band together to survive and escape the bloodshed. If you're a fan of thrillers and dramatizations of true events, Hotel Mumbai should be right up your alley.

Out of Blue

OUT OF BLUE Official Trailer (2019) Patricia Clarkson, Toby Jones Mystery Movie HDwww.youtube.com

In mystery/suspense drama Out of Blue, Academy Award-nominated actress Patricia Clarkson plays Mike Hoolihan, a cop investigating the murder of a renowned astrophysicist. The trailer is baffling. The dialogue seems really bad, so bad it might be a joke, although it's honestly hard to tell. For instance, when a man utters, "Jesus Christ," Clarkson responds, "I don't think Jesus had much to do with this." Could that line have possibly been written seriously? If you're brave enough, watch the movie and find out.


Dan Kahan is a writer & screenwriter from Brooklyn, usually rocking a man bun. Find more at dankahanwriter.com


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Film Lists

7 Movies to Look Forward to in 2019 (That Aren't from Comic Books)

Look, "Pokémon: Detective Pikachu" looks like it could be really, really bad; but a true pokemon fan shouldn't care at this point.

Movie

Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash

From new seasons of binge-worthy favorites to horrible reboots of reality TV, 2019 will bring some of our dreams and nightmares to the small screen.

On the silver screen, this year will bring a record-breaking number of superhero movies to theaters. But a windfall of new features from masterminds like James Cameron, M. Night Shyamalan, and J.J. Abrams are also slated for release. Here are seven upcoming films on which to pin all your hopes for the future of cinema:

1. Alita: Battle Angel

Release date: February 14

Most of America had probably never heard of Alita: Battle Angel before the teaser trailer dropped a little over a year ago, but heck, the visuals look darn good. Apparently this film has been a passion project of James Cameron's for years, as the director first announced it was going into development in 2003. The movie was held up due to Cameron's work on Avatar, and after proving his talent with some impressive rewrites, the reigns were handed to action film auteur Robert Rodriguez. This movie looks like an epic cyberpunk sci-fi classic in the making.

2. Us

Release date: March 22

Get Out was a perfect horror movie, and no one saw it coming. Us gives us the return of Jordan Peele as writer and director, and this time we're ready for it from the get-go. The trailer is a work of marketing genius, notably taking the Northern California hip-hop classic by Luniz, "I Got 5 On It," and weaving it into a haunting, ambient backdrop. The twist of the film seems to have already been revealed in all of the trailers, but for brevity: a family moves to a new beachfront home in California and are soon visited by shadowy figures. The film seems more like a straight-forward slasher film than the psychologically stimulating Get Out, and everyone should be pumped.

3. Glass

Release date: January 18

Okay, okay, so this is kind of a comic book movie—but not really! M. Night made these guys up all on his own, and as a sequel to his beloved sleeper-hit Unbreakable and Split, we should all be excited. It's uncharted territory for both the fans and M. Night himself, so we're all in this together. The trailers have been hyping the movie for months, and the cast is brimming with fan favorites, like the unparalleled Sarah Paulson, the ghoulishly talented James McAvoy, and the legend himself, Samuel L. Jackson. Oh, and Bruce Willis looks like he'll be in this too, but who knows if he'll be acting, or just kind of…there. Check out the trailer below.

4. Star Wars IX

Release date: December 20

Can the Star Wars sequel trilogy be redeemed from the abysmal fan response to The Last Jedi? Well, Disney scrapped the underdog director strategy and put the King of Cliffhangers, JJ Abrams, back in the saddle, so at least we know we're going to get something we're used to. Promotional material for this final chapter in the trilogy has been sparse, and the beloved main characters from the original trilogy are effectively un-reprisable. At this point, the fans are all just wondering what could possibly be next. Well, one bit of good news is we're getting the original Lando back!

5. Pet Sematary

Release date: April 5

Of all the horror movies that have been rebooted in the last 10 years, none has better deserved a revamp than Pet Sematary. The remake looks dark, eerie, chilling, and refined. From the trailer, Jason Clarke seems to bring a much more nuanced approach to the character of Louis Creed, and it also looks like they've done away with the distasteful element of the "ancient Indian burial ground." As far as horror movie remakes go, this one looks like it's worth the facelift.

6. Godzilla: King of Monsters

Release date: May 31

Alright, almost everyone in America was monstrously disappointed by the 2014 Godzilla reboot. The pacing was sluggish, and we didn't get any of that sweet, sweet Godzilla action until the last 15 minutes of the movie. Well, the producers at Warner Brothers heard our pleas and answered with Godzilla: King of Monsters. With two trailers promising epic monster brawls and dramatic existential conflicts, both the hardcore and casual Godzilla fan should be excited.

7. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu

Release date: May 10

If you were born in the 90's and had a halfway decent childhood, odds are you played a lot of Pokemon growing up. For us now-adult poke-fans, the idea of a live-action, feature-length film starring our favorite magical monsters seemed to be relegated to the world of cheap but excellent fanfiction. But no more. Our dreams have been made real, with the confusing (and potentially disastrous) casting of Ryan Reynolds as everyone's favorite electric mouse, Pikachu. It looks like it could be really, really bad; but a true pokemon fan shouldn't care at this point. We just want to see Pokemon in the real world - if we have to suffer through Reynold's annoying yammering for an hour and a half, so be it.


Ahmed is a media writer, tech enthusiast, and college student. He has a Twitter: @aahsure


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