Scorpion set to strike
Drake is back with his soundtrack for summer, Chris Lackner writes.
MUSIC
Big releases on June 29: Drake (Scorpion); Florence + the Machine (High as Hope); Gorillaz (The Now Now); The Milk Carton Kids (All the Things that I Did and All the Things that I Didn’t Do).
Big picture: Canadian musical titan Drake is being coy and cryptic about his soon-to-be soundtrack of the summer. Case in point, the rapper and singer recently teased his new album on Instagram with a photo of bloodied former Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Tie Domi (fingers crossed for a duet!).
Meanwhile, English indie rockers Florence + the Machine can do no wrong. But High as Hope, eh? Maybe frontwoman Florence Welch can pitch their title track as the new Canadian national anthem after marijuana is officially legal on Oct. 17.
And finally, based on their titles alone, I can only assume two well-deserved musical darlings — Gorillaz and The Milk Carton Kids — had a secret bet going this week: who can come up with an album name that becomes an ironic hipster T-shirt faster?
Forecast: Drake will sting his many rivals with another juggernaut album; Domi will launch a new hip-hop career under the name Vanilla Ice 2.
MOVIES
Big releases on June 29: Sicario: Day of the Soldado; Uncle Drew.
Big picture: Hmmm. On the same week marijuana legalization passed in the Canadian Senate, the drug war escalates on the big screen. Coincidence? Sure. Nevertheless, think of the big screen potential of Sicario 3: Month of the Maple Leaf.
Day of the Soldado finds federal agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) teaming up a mysterious man (Benicio Del Toro) seeking revenge on a cartel kingpin. To beat the bad guy, you have to be a bad guy. You know the drill.
Meanwhile, Uncle Drew could turn out to be the best Hollywood uncle since Uncle Buck.
It’s a sports comedy about a hard-luck street baller that recruits mythical, reclusive basketball star Uncle Drew (played by current NBA star Kyrie Irving) and his former teammates — many of which are played by other NBA greats like Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber and Reggie Miller.
Forecast: You might as well add more points to the maple leaf and paint it green. Expect Canada to become high on the topical list for American comedian writers. I predict a sequel to Strange Brew called Strange Weed and a future Cheech & Chong movie where they light it up north of the border.
Meanwhile, Uncle Drew’s cast of pro ballers will lead to a future project with a pro hockey-star cast. I predict a fictional sci-fi movie about an alien invasion in which the aliens’ only vulnerability is pucks and rubber.
Who wouldn’t watch 120 minutes of the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier and Steve Yzerman firing pucks and one-liners at an army of ETs?
TV
Big events: Big Brother
(June 27, CBS/Global); Kiss Me First (June 29, Netflix).
Big picture: The two-hour première of the 20th season of Big Brother is here. Yay? To keep it “fresh,” producers introduce a wired-up house called the BB20 and a tech-inspired Silicon
Valley theme. Future episodes will air Thursdays, Sundays and Wednesdays. (In related news, turn off your TV … GO. OUTSIDE. There are people, sunshine, and birds out there.)
Meanwhile, Kiss Me First is a sci-fi, YA thrill ride. Think Twilight meets The Matrix meets TRON. When a lonely teenage girl becomes addicted to a virtual world, she’s forced to confront a threat who’s killing off her new-found online friends. (See related news above. Just because you can stream all six episodes at the same time doesn’t mean you can’t spread them out among forays into the fresh air).
Forecast: I predict you’re getting sick of an entertainment columnist telling you not to watch TV and embrace the great outdoors. However, I also predict you’re willing to compromise (i.e. walking to and from the car to the nearest theatre playing Sicario or Uncle Drew).