Greetings from Hungary as Zach and the ladies continue their journey for love.
I hope you’re Hungary for some drama, because the Bachelor crew has moved to Budapest.
Kaity was the first to get a second one-on-one, and they went sight-seeing in Budapest before writing each other poetry on a random typewriter atop a hill. At the dinner portion of the date, Kaity told Zach about all the men that have left her in her life and received a rose.
The group date visited a mentalist, meaning they all were either very weirded out by him reading their minds or broke down crying (or both). Crying and emotional outpourings continued into the evening, with Gabi getting the group date rose.
The second one-on-one had Zach take Brooklyn to the outdoor heated baths, making it back-to-back weeks with the Bachelor taking a woman into a spa-related bathing area. Despite them seemingly having a good time, Zach sent her home.
Next week, Zach is hitting up hometowns with the four remaining women.
Letās get into the contenders, pretenders, those that have work to do and our Top Five.
The 95th Academy Awards are this Sunday, March 12, meaning we will very soon have all the answers as to which films, actors, directors and production staffs will earn accolades for their work in 2023.
When the nominees for Best Picture were announced back in late January, DraftKings posted odds as to which picture would take home the coveted gold statuette. Now that we’ve been through a lot of awards season and seen how the Golden Globes, BAFTA and SAG awards were handed out, the odds have shifted.
Let’s take a look at where the Best Picture odds stand now. All odds courtesy of DraftKings.
Sylvester Stallone — the man who penned the original 1976 Best Picture film, its ensuing five sequels, and had been in all eight preceding entries — does NOT appear in the latest chapter of Adonis Creed’s saga.
For the most part, as the series starts to veer more toward Creed’s story, Stallone’s absence isn’t all that noticeable. But for someone who quite literally created this fictional boxing world to not even make a short cameo is … a little jarring.
The situation is also a bit more complicated than it lets on. Let me explain.
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Itās March 2023! And that means itās time once again to check out some of the best of the best from Amazon Primeās movie offerings, from classics to some new flicks that the service is premiering or bringing back, from dramas to comedies and everything in between.
Not a Prime member?Ā You can sign up here, which will qualify you for watching all of these movies without having to pay individually for them.
You can also check out some of our other lists of games and culture content if youāre looking for a fun way to entertain yourself or kill some time:
Jonathan Majors and Michael B. Jordan shine in the latter’s directorial debut.
Friday, March 3, Adonis Creed returns to the boxing ring as Creed III hits theaters. The third in the series, Creed III is lighter on the nostalgia than its two preceding films. And that’s probably a good thing.
Don’t get me wrong. The callbacks to the Rocky movies in Creed and Creed II are fantastic and what got this franchise off the ground. Creed III, which is the directorial debut of Michael B. Jordan, proves that it’s more than just a play on your emotions with a kick-ass theme song from 1976.
In fact, this is the first movie of the nine-entry franchise that doesn’t include Sylvester Stallone.
Creed III is a story about boxing, yes, but it’s more so a story about friendship, diverging paths and losing your identity. At the end of his illustrious boxing career, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) finds a new role in retirement running his gym and training a new generation of fighters.
His wife Bianca (the flawless Tessa Thompson) has moved from performing her music to producing for other artists as her hearing has continued to decline. Their daughter, Amara (the fantastic Mila Davis-Kent), is thriving even if she sometimes takes after her father by using her fists to solve problems. Mary-Anne Creed (the incomparable Phylicia Rashad) is still the maternal backbone of the family.
But, as you’d expect, things change and evolve. Enter Damian “Dame” Anderson, the childhood friend and boxing mentor of Adonis. Played by Jonathan Majors, Dame shows up at Creed’s gym after a stint in prison and is looking to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming the champ.
This sets a path where Creed has to un-retire to defeat Anderson, who has found success in the ring after working his way from sparring partner of Creed’s champ Felix Chavez (Jose Benavidez) to stealing his belt.
Eli Ade/MGM via AP
Majors is phenomenal and an absolute force on screen. His chemistry with Jordan is electric, his physical acting is incredible and his ability to emote is truly unlike any star currently on screen.
As a director, Jordan should get credit for drawing such performances from his characters. As an actor, Jordan delivers. An emotional scene between him and Rashad later in the film will have audiences in tears, and it’s evident the relationships forged in the first two movies of the series helped make Creed III the best it could be.
“There’s so much trust and there’s an easy communication between the two of us; we just know each other so well,” Tessa Thompson said of Jordan going from co-star to co-star plus director. “I don’t know if I’ve worked with a director that I’ve known as well or that has known me as well, so that was kind of a trip. It also felt really natural, like it didn’t really feel like much changed, to be honest.”
Jordan immersed himself in the details of his movie, from hand-picking Los Angeles sports paraphernalia and art for Creed’s basement to carefully composing the epic training montage we’ve grown to know and love in this franchise.
“I take the blame for everything,” Jordan said with a laugh when it came to explaining decisions like having Creed pull a Cessna during one such montage. “That’s on me, too.”
Creed III isn’t a perfect movie, but it doesn’t have to be. It tells the story of two young men, the way life can change in an instant and the power of relationships. It’s a worthy entry into the series.
Warning: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED EPISODE 1 OF SURVIVOR 44.
Ready?
Ok.
Welcome to Survivor Vibe Check!Each Thursday this season, Blake Schuster and Bryan Kalbrosky will chat about last night’s episode to see who is thriving and who is straight up not having a good time on the islands of Fiji.Ā Season 44 got off to an absolutely chaotic on Wednesday. We saw multiple calls for medics, new advantages introduced and the first tribal council ended with only one vote counted. Let’s dig into it.
Blake: Bryan! What a return to the islands of Fiji. A wild, two-hour premiere for Survivor 44 with tons of new twists and some noteworthy characters. Sum up the premiere for me in one sentence.
Bryan:Ā That felt like a fever dream and somehow required three times as many medics as there were votes counted in tribal council?!?
Blake: Oh, Maddy. Getting voted out first has to suck. Getting voted out first with ONE VOTE is about as brutal as it gets. The title of the episode was, officially, “I can’t wait to see Jeff” but it probably should’ve been “Don’t get cocky, kids”. I’m just absolutely stunned by the amount of mistakes made in just three days. It’s not something we’re used to seeing.Ā
Bryan: It was honestly like playing Blackjack with someone who has no idea how to play and they’re just asking the dealer for more cards and it totally ruins the table. Multiple people weirdly took away their ability to vote when they didn’t have to, and that somehow cost the game of one of the only people who handled tribal council normally.
Blake:Ā If I can take your analogy a step further: It’s like asking for more and more cards and somehow getting to 21 because for the first time ever the shot in the dark was played successfully! I can’t fathom why you would want to take a 1-in-6 chance but congrats to Jamie for actually pulling it off.
Bryan: Just to perfect this Blackjack analogy, though: Jamie had a 20. She was already safe! She hit and happened to get an ace for a 21. But why?! She wasn’t going home. No one was talking about her. I can sort of see why Matthew might have done it — perhaps he felt the tribe viewed him as a risk in challenges due to his totally self-created injury. I was shook when Jamie did it, though.
Blake: I think once Jamie announced it, Matthew had to do it as well because of his injury. If Jamie plays it in secret, Iām not sure Matthew even considers doing the same. And at that point Brandon hasĀ to play his idol to make sure heās not going home.
I want to back up for one second because I thought there was some really smart gameplay going back to the first immunity challenge.
With Claire and Matthew sitting out, Claire makes arguably the best move so far by subtly asking Matthew if Lauren proved that she lost her vote after being sent on the island hike. That immediately helped Claire build trust across party lines and gave Matthew ammo against a threat in his own tribe. Huge points there. Matthew then gives Lauren an opportunity to come clean during tribal council about whether or not she actually lost her vote. And Lauren, smartly, doesnāt own up to it and instead plays her ābank a voteā advantage. So now Lauren can play off the tribal as not having a vote and no one is wiser to it.
Claire and Lauren were the two winners of the first three days, in my opinion.
Bryan:Ā That’s such an ideal way for one of the two newest advantages to, at least optically, work totally in Lauren’s favor. Very strong rebuttal after a savvy move by Claire.
Bryan: Really? You don’t watch Survivor for the moments that most closely resemble an MMA fight? Yeah, that was hard to watch. I was glad he got a chance to stay instead of immediately getting evacuated, but it was so brutal to see the production team give us that. I know if I got hurt on the game, I’d like as few people to see it as possible and if any did see it, I hope they wouldn’t see anything too invasive. But that is one of the myriad of reasons why I’m blogging on it and am not actually on that island, I guess. What did you make of the other medics? Three in one episode is a LOT.
Blake: Bruce’s injury came from trying too hard in a challenge. I can understand that. Matthew just going rock climbing for the hell of it? Dude, what are you doing? It looked like a bad idea even before he fell and busted his arm and foot. He wasn’t even looking for an idol or anything. I just don’t understand. You’ve got to be smarter than that even if your adrenaline is telling you to go for it.
As for Brandon, he had a tough two days with the sweat challenge at camp followed by having to move huge puzzle pieces. I wonder how hot it was out there for him to cramp up as much as he did.
Bryan:Ā Plus, with Brandon, you have to be extra careful after what happened to Bruce. The conditions must feel so awful, though, if this dude played through multiple seasons of NFL and college football. Like, that’s not easy stuff either!
Who are your early favorites to win a million dollars? And who are you most excited to watch on TV every Wednesday?
Blake: It’s so early and I feel like I’m just getting over Jesse not winning Survivor 43, so I hesitate to make a pick right now. That said, I think Claire has her head in the right place and I’m very excited to see her strategy play out.
Bryan: I hope that one day, we all have a Mandela effect moment where we all collectively decide Jesse actually won S43. I think smart money is on Claire, too. I had a good feeling about Frannie, too. But it’s such an impossible game to predict. I probably would have picked Gabler as theĀ lastĀ guy capable of winning the season after the premiere of S43, and we saw how that turned out.
Blake:Ā Jesse won our hearts. That’s what matters most.
The best songs from the all-time great saxophonist who died this week.
Wayne Shorter, who is among jazz’s greatest saxophonists AND composers, died on Thursday, as the New York Times reported. He was 89 years old.
Shorter is right up there with Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane as the titans of the instrument. He also moved through different genres, going from jazz to fusion both as a solo artist and as part of Miles Davis’s second famous quintet before moving to Weather Report to find even more success.
But he also was a composer who had an unbelievable run of albums as a leader.
Let’s run through some of his greatest songs to listen to:
The Mandalorian is in one of the most interesting spots of the Star Wars timeline
As an avid Star Wars fan, I must admit that the saga can get extremely confusing at times.
The continuity is filled with so many different characters and different timelines. It’s easy to get things mixed up here and there ā especially when it comes to actually placing the moments we’re all watching together on an actual canonical timeline.
All of what I just said can be used to describe how most people feel about The Mandalorian at this point. Everyone loves the show, but no one is exactly sure *when* it is in the Star Wars timeline.
Yes, we know what’s going on in the series (and if you don’t here’s a quick catch-up). And we also generally know when it takes place. But specifically? Not really. We’re not even sure if Jon Favreau ā the show’s creator ā actually knows. He’s just telling us as he goes along.
Let’s help you if you didn’t see The Book of Boba Fett.
Grogu and bounty hunter Din Djarin (portrayed by the great Pedro Pascal) are back on March 1 when Season 3 of The Mandalorian debuts on Disney+.
If you didnāt watch The Book of Boba FettĀ (yes, he’s alive), then itās been a while since youāve seen Mando and his cute little green buddy. The final episode of Season 2 of the Disney+ Star Wars show was released on Dec. 18, 2020. And that episode ā directed by Ant-Manās Peyton Reed ā was a banger (even if it was a bit predictable) featuring one of our favorite original lightsaber-wielding heroes.
But a lot has happened since then. The latter part of The Book of Boba Fett essentially turned into Season 2.5 of The Mandalorian. While Boba was busy hanging out with Tusken Raiders and taking over Tatooine, Din and Grogu went through some significant things too.
To catch you up, hereās everything that has happened to Din, Grogu and their friends since the Season 2 finale ofĀ The Mandalorian.
If you havenāt watched The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett, spoilers are ahead.
How late (or early) do you have to be awake for new episodes of The Mandalorian?
The highly-anticipated new season of The Mandalorian returns on Disney+ on Wednesday, March 1. Pedro Pascal returns as the titular masked bounty hunter as he sets off to wash in āthe living waters beneath the mines of Mandaloreā to regain his status as a Mandalorian after removing his helmet (several times) in his efforts to save his little green buddy, Grogu.
If you’re trying to remember what has happened since we last saw our Beskar-encrusted fighter and his adorable sidekick, check out our refresher.
New episodes will drop weekly on the streaming-only platform at midnight PT each Wednesday or 3 a.m. ET.
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