No one knew how many difficulties existed in the fictional town of Letterkenny when the show revolving around small-town hicks, hockey players and skids launched on Super Bowl Sunday 2016. As it turns out, there were enough “Letterkenny Problems” not only to change the lives of all those involved, but to transform the Canadian TV landscape.
When “Letterkenny” cracks open its final six-pack of episodes Dec. 25 on the Canadian streaming service Crave (and on Dec. 26 on Hulu), it ends an era that includes 74 episodes, seven specials, five live tours, branded clothing and booze, Canadian Screen Awards victories, and a spinoff, “Shoresy,” which wraps filming on its third season in Sudbury, Ont. this month.
The most impressive feat, however, may be in how a show with such specificity, from the vernacular to the sets, catapulted into mainstream pop culture and amassed loyal fanbases across Canada and the U.S.
“The more specific you get,...
When “Letterkenny” cracks open its final six-pack of episodes Dec. 25 on the Canadian streaming service Crave (and on Dec. 26 on Hulu), it ends an era that includes 74 episodes, seven specials, five live tours, branded clothing and booze, Canadian Screen Awards victories, and a spinoff, “Shoresy,” which wraps filming on its third season in Sudbury, Ont. this month.
The most impressive feat, however, may be in how a show with such specificity, from the vernacular to the sets, catapulted into mainstream pop culture and amassed loyal fanbases across Canada and the U.S.
“The more specific you get,...
- 12/23/2023
- by Amber Dowling
- Variety Film + TV
It is not uncommon to happen upon subversive art in the mainstream. You can find the provocative work of R. Crumb, Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe smuggled into the background of films, or, in many cases, outright adapted as a feature (à la Ralph Bakshi's take on Crumb's "Fritz the Cat"). What you don't expect is to throw on a network evening soap opera and notice that a character's pillowcase is adorned with a design pattern of unrolled condoms -- especially in the 1990s.
MacArthur "genius grant"-winning artist Mel Chin thought the same thing 30 years ago while teaching art simultaneously at CalTech and the University of Georgia. Inspired by the notion of product placement exploding across movie and television screens all over the world, Chin wondered what would happen if he could sneak a conceptually contentious piece of art into the background of an otherwise apolitical show.
MacArthur "genius grant"-winning artist Mel Chin thought the same thing 30 years ago while teaching art simultaneously at CalTech and the University of Georgia. Inspired by the notion of product placement exploding across movie and television screens all over the world, Chin wondered what would happen if he could sneak a conceptually contentious piece of art into the background of an otherwise apolitical show.
- 12/16/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Bethany Cosentino has released her third single, “For A Moment,” from her upcoming debut solo album, Natural Disaster, set for release July 28 via Concord Records.
The song, about the fragility of life, has the singer leaning into late ’90s folk pop with mandolin tones and pedal steel work. It features backing vocals by the song’s co-writers Madi Diaz, Kate York, and Sarah Buxton.
“The idea for ‘For A Moment’ came to me one morning on a writing trip to Nashville,” said Cosentino in a statement. “After waking up to...
The song, about the fragility of life, has the singer leaning into late ’90s folk pop with mandolin tones and pedal steel work. It features backing vocals by the song’s co-writers Madi Diaz, Kate York, and Sarah Buxton.
“The idea for ‘For A Moment’ came to me one morning on a writing trip to Nashville,” said Cosentino in a statement. “After waking up to...
- 7/6/2023
- by Carita Rizzo
- Rollingstone.com
Bethany Cosentino has released a new single, “Easy.” The piano-driven ballad, about leaving unhealthy relationships behind, is the latest track to emerge from the Best Coast’s singer’s forthcoming debut solo album, Natural Disaster, set for release July 28 via Concord Records.
“I’m not someone who can sit still for long without my brain going into overdrive, but when I’m just sitting alone in my car, I feel peace,” Cosentino explained in a statement. “I had been thinking a lot about where my life was at 35 and how...
“I’m not someone who can sit still for long without my brain going into overdrive, but when I’m just sitting alone in my car, I feel peace,” Cosentino explained in a statement. “I had been thinking a lot about where my life was at 35 and how...
- 6/16/2023
- by Emily Zemler
- Rollingstone.com
While Best Coast dealt in chilled out indie pop, Bethany Cosentino goes full country ballad on “Easy,” the second look at her upcoming debut solo album Natural Disaster. Check out the artist’s new sound below.
Who knew relationships weren’t supposed to completely drain you of energy and self-worth? That’s what Cosentino realizes in “Easy,” a love song where the singer croons alone at a piano before other twangy instrumentals come into the mix. She explained the origins of the single in a statement.
“I’m not someone who can sit still for long without my brain going into overdrive, but when I’m just sitting alone in my car, I feel peace. I had been thinking a lot about where my life was at 35 and how different it was from where I pictured I’d be,” Cosentino said. “I’ve been writing love songs for a really long time,...
Who knew relationships weren’t supposed to completely drain you of energy and self-worth? That’s what Cosentino realizes in “Easy,” a love song where the singer croons alone at a piano before other twangy instrumentals come into the mix. She explained the origins of the single in a statement.
“I’m not someone who can sit still for long without my brain going into overdrive, but when I’m just sitting alone in my car, I feel peace. I had been thinking a lot about where my life was at 35 and how different it was from where I pictured I’d be,” Cosentino said. “I’ve been writing love songs for a really long time,...
- 6/16/2023
- by Carys Anderson
- Consequence - Music
Best Coast are going on an indefinite hiatus, and principal songwriter Bethany Cosentino is going solo. Today, Cosentino has announced that she’ll be releasing her debut album, Natural Disaster, on July 28th via Concord Records, and has also unveiled the album’s first single, “It’s Fine.”
Since hitting the scene 13 years ago with their seminal debut, Crazy for You, Best Coast have been a mainstay of the reverb-washed, lo-fi-inspired, indie generation. In a statement, Cosentino explained that the time had come for the duo — her and Bobb Bruno — to move onto the next stage of their artistic lives.
“My identity as a human being, and as an artist, has been so wrapped up in Best Coast for over a decade,” she wrote. “The decision to pause the project indefinitely, and explore a new side of myself, was a very difficult one to make — but it felt necessary for me.
Since hitting the scene 13 years ago with their seminal debut, Crazy for You, Best Coast have been a mainstay of the reverb-washed, lo-fi-inspired, indie generation. In a statement, Cosentino explained that the time had come for the duo — her and Bobb Bruno — to move onto the next stage of their artistic lives.
“My identity as a human being, and as an artist, has been so wrapped up in Best Coast for over a decade,” she wrote. “The decision to pause the project indefinitely, and explore a new side of myself, was a very difficult one to make — but it felt necessary for me.
- 5/3/2023
- by Jo Vito
- Consequence - Music
Bethany Cosentino is leaving Best Coast behind to explore new territory as a solo artist. Her first single, “It’s Fine,” finds her singing, “It’s fine ’til it’s not fine,” in an upbeat, somewhat hopeful manner similar to what she was doing with Best Coast, though a little poppier. The track will appear on Natural Disaster, out July 28.
“My identity as a human being, and as an artist, has been so wrapped up in Best Coast for over a decade,” she said in a statement. “The decision to pause the project indefinitely,...
“My identity as a human being, and as an artist, has been so wrapped up in Best Coast for over a decade,” she said in a statement. “The decision to pause the project indefinitely,...
- 5/3/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Champions is a comedy movie directed by Bobby Farrelly starring Woody Harrelson and Ernie Hudson.
Remake of the Spanish film Campeones. No one dared to trash the Spanish film, but this one has been given its due by specialized critics.
Sometimes you have to judge cinema as cinema, and sometimes even film critics get it right.
Sentimental and trite.
Movie Review
Is it better than the Spanish version? Of course, Hollywood exhibits all its industry muscle, and what was a European production in the Hispanic film – with its own merit but lacking on a production level, here the industry exhibits its potential and gives a quick polish to everything: the editing, the sound, and puts a star, Woody Harrelson, in the spotlight.
It takes everything from the Spanish film, except for the great campaign that was made to judge a film not by its cinematic content but by its more social side.
Remake of the Spanish film Campeones. No one dared to trash the Spanish film, but this one has been given its due by specialized critics.
Sometimes you have to judge cinema as cinema, and sometimes even film critics get it right.
Sentimental and trite.
Movie Review
Is it better than the Spanish version? Of course, Hollywood exhibits all its industry muscle, and what was a European production in the Hispanic film – with its own merit but lacking on a production level, here the industry exhibits its potential and gives a quick polish to everything: the editing, the sound, and puts a star, Woody Harrelson, in the spotlight.
It takes everything from the Spanish film, except for the great campaign that was made to judge a film not by its cinematic content but by its more social side.
- 3/29/2023
- by Martin Cid
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Bobby Farelly’s been out of the feature game for almost ten years. After a lucrative 20-year career writing, directing, and producing together, brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly split cinematic ways in 2014. They kept working together in TV, but where Bobby took a break, Peter doubled down, debuting a solo career with Green Book and amassing Oscars and jeers alike. Now it’s Bobby’s turn, and unfortunately he is not amassing Oscars.
Champions opens on a spiraling Marcus Marakovich (Woody Harrelson)––local hothead drunk and soon-to-be-canned assistant coach of the NBA G-league Iowa Stallions––in the final seconds of a nailbiter. A brash, sickeningly self-assured disagreement on strategy with the head coach (Ernie Hudson) quickly turns into a physical altercation that loses Marcus his job, leads him to a DUI, and lands him in court. In place of a harsher sentence the judge graciously offers Markus the chance to...
Champions opens on a spiraling Marcus Marakovich (Woody Harrelson)––local hothead drunk and soon-to-be-canned assistant coach of the NBA G-league Iowa Stallions––in the final seconds of a nailbiter. A brash, sickeningly self-assured disagreement on strategy with the head coach (Ernie Hudson) quickly turns into a physical altercation that loses Marcus his job, leads him to a DUI, and lands him in court. In place of a harsher sentence the judge graciously offers Markus the chance to...
- 3/10/2023
- by Luke Hicks
- The Film Stage
(L to R) Kevin Iannucci as Johnathan, Kaitlin Olson as Alex, James Day Keith as Benny, Madison Tevlin as Cosentino, Cheech Marin as Julio, and Woody Harrelson as Marcus in director Bobby Farrelly’s Champions, a Focus Features release. Credit : Shauna Townley/Focus Features
Woody Harrelson stars as a former pro basketball coach court-ordered to coach a Special Olympics team with intellectual disabilities, in director Bobby Farrelly’s Champions. With such a premise, one might worry the film could go one of two ways: offensive or cloyingly sentimental. Bobby Farrelly brings enough signature Farrelly brothers humor to Champions to make it a funny, if slightly raunchy, comedy and while it avoids the first issue, it does lean to the sentimental although it dodges the cloying part. The result is a more entertaining film than one might expect, largely due to the appealing cast of actors with disabilities, although it...
Woody Harrelson stars as a former pro basketball coach court-ordered to coach a Special Olympics team with intellectual disabilities, in director Bobby Farrelly’s Champions. With such a premise, one might worry the film could go one of two ways: offensive or cloyingly sentimental. Bobby Farrelly brings enough signature Farrelly brothers humor to Champions to make it a funny, if slightly raunchy, comedy and while it avoids the first issue, it does lean to the sentimental although it dodges the cloying part. The result is a more entertaining film than one might expect, largely due to the appealing cast of actors with disabilities, although it...
- 3/10/2023
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
While Peter Farrelly was off winning Oscars for “Green Book,” younger brother Bobby has been largely absent from feature directing. It’s been nearly a decade since the siblings shared credit — the last time being 2014’s “Dumb and Dumber To.” Now, rather than competing with Peter at the respectability game, Bobby sticks to what he knows with “Champions,” in which Woody Harrelson plays a minor-league basketball coach court-ordered to assist a Special Olympics team for 90 days — just long enough to take the team from bumbling incompetents to national finalists.
There are zero surprises in “Champions,” unless you count the not-inconsiderable shock that such a movie exists at all. A remake of 2018 Spanish box office sensation “Campeones,” this awkward (if presumably well-intentioned) comedy might have felt enlightened 25 years ago — back when “Forrest Gump” was an Oscar favorite — but today makes for a patronizing portrayal of people with intellectual disabilities. That’s...
There are zero surprises in “Champions,” unless you count the not-inconsiderable shock that such a movie exists at all. A remake of 2018 Spanish box office sensation “Campeones,” this awkward (if presumably well-intentioned) comedy might have felt enlightened 25 years ago — back when “Forrest Gump” was an Oscar favorite — but today makes for a patronizing portrayal of people with intellectual disabilities. That’s...
- 3/7/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. An irascible, down-on-his-luck coach is reluctantly put in charge of a ragtag team of misfits who can barely play the game. Although he can hardly disguise his initial disgust, the players’ enthusiastic attitudes and general lovability soften him up until he becomes not just their coach but also their most ardent cheerleader. In the process, he becomes a better person.
That’s the Bad News Bears-style template for the latest cinematic variation on the subject, starring Woody Harrelson in a role he was seemingly born to play. You don’t need to have seen the 2018 Spanish hit comedy Campeones, which won multiple Goya Awards including Best Film, to think that its American remake, Champions, feels overly familiar. But that doesn’t make this sure-to-be crowd-pleaser any less winning, especially with the endlessly likable Harrelson at its center.
In this case, the...
That’s the Bad News Bears-style template for the latest cinematic variation on the subject, starring Woody Harrelson in a role he was seemingly born to play. You don’t need to have seen the 2018 Spanish hit comedy Campeones, which won multiple Goya Awards including Best Film, to think that its American remake, Champions, feels overly familiar. But that doesn’t make this sure-to-be crowd-pleaser any less winning, especially with the endlessly likable Harrelson at its center.
In this case, the...
- 3/7/2023
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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