Pop Culture Cold Brew #5
Trailer Round-Up with HBO's "Succession," Netflix’s "Pray Away," Lionsgate’s "Die in A Gunfight," Sony Pictures Classics’ "Julia" & Exclusive sneak peek clip at Apple Tv+’s "Ted Lasso" Season Premiere
Here are the latest teasers and trailers for your unadulterated pleasure.
🎥 HBO’s Succession
Not only is Gossip Girl back, but so are my favorite deplorably rich family, the Roys. The Roys are a fictionally entertaining family of insufferable sociopaths whose delusions of power blind them from anything.
Season three continues with the Roy family struggle of shifting sibling dynamics to succeed in the family business. The future looks increasingly uncertain, but it’s the past that threatens to destroy them all ultimately. We can’t wait.
🎥 Apple Tv+’s Ted Lasso
It’s premiere week, so in honor and as a treat, Apple TV+ excitedly unveils a sneak peek clip from the season two premiere of Ted Lasso; watch below.
Series two premieres globally this Friday, July 23rd (followed by a new weekly, every Friday). Notably and most recently, the freshman comedy series made Emmy history with the most nominations for season one.
The critically acclaimed comedy is developed by Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly and is based on the pre-existing format and characters from NBC Sports.
🎥 Netflix’s Pray Away
In the 1970s, five men struggling with their sexuality in their Evangelical church started a Bible study to help each other leave the supposed “homosexual lifestyle.” They quickly received over 25,000 letters from people asking for help and formalized as Exodus International, the largest and most controversial conversion therapy organization in the world. Yet behind the veil, leaders struggled with their own “same-sex attractions,” which never went away.
After years as Christian superstars among the religion, many of these men and women have come out as LGBTQ+ while disavowing the very movement they helped create. Directed by Kristine Stolakis, Pray Away focuses on the dramatic journeys of former conversion therapy leaders, current members, and a survivor’s story; while chronicling the “ex-gay” movement’s rise to power, persistent influence, and the profound harm it causes. Executive produced by Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum, the documentary is a good reminder that no matter how far LGBTQ+ progression is made, dangerous regressive steps backward directly risk towards equality.
🎥 Lionsgate’s Die in A Gunfight
Mary (Alexandra Daddario) and Ben (Diego Boneta) are essentially Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers of two powerful feuding families.
Their forbidden love captures the attention of Ben’s best friend Mukul (Wade Allain-Marcus), Mary’s would-be protector-turned-stalker; Terrence (Justin Chatwin), an Aussie hitman with an open mind and a code of ethics; and his free-spirited girlfriend, Barbie (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Seemingly sounding like Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver meets Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, it becomes clear that violent delights will have violent ends. Don’t miss Die in A Gunfight, now playing in select theaters and digital/On Demand.
🎥 Sony Pictures Classics’ Julia
Sony Pictures Classics documentary about groundbreaking TV chef and author Julia Child, who influenced countless generations with her series The French Chef and the seminal cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
⚡ Returning with a new look, Pop Culture Round-Up is here to stay. Instead of exploiting the frankly oversaturated celebrity culture and the American obsession with fame. Instead, Pop Culture Round-Up features news and current events on popular culture. We’ll contemplate why we can’t get enough and why we love not minding our own business.
Julia Ducournau Becomes the Second Female Director Ever to Win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Titane.
Did you catch the Gossip Girl premiere with a Christopher John Rogers fashion show? Catch JC wearing the designer’s signature vibrancy in his signature technicolored stripes.
Julien Calloway (Jordan Alexander) walking the Christopher John Rogers show during the premiere episode of the rebooted Gossip Girl. Photo Cr Photo: Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max. HBO confirms Game of Thrones prequel around the Targaryens, called House of the Dragon.
Mj Rodriguez made, long overdue, albeit Emmy history.
A much-deserved win in her 13-year conservatorship case, Britney Spears can hire a lawyer of her choice, Mathew Rosengart, to be exact.
After pleading her case last month, Britney alleged conservatorship abuse against her family; her mom Lynne, her brother Bryan, her little sister Jamie Lynn (who was the most vocal about #FreeBritney despite denying having any capabilities of help) but especially against her father, Jamie.
I don’t like that my sister showed up at an awards show and performed MY SONGS to remixes !!!!! My so-called support system hurt me deeply !!!! This conservatorship killed my dreams…
If you’ve been part of #FreeBritney for a while, you know that Britney allegedly doesn’t write her own social media posts since she has to have them approved (she can’t own a cell phone). So the details seem to point to Britney vocalizing her feelings after years of masking herself. After last year’s media reckoning, we’ve learned that performative allyship will always come back with a helping of humble pie. No word yet, but I’m sure Lynn and Jamie Lynn’s people are helping them search through Bible verses of sudden empathy and understanding via an IOS Note apology coming soon. So that post probably did come from Britney, her pink wig of defiant rebellion may have been taken away by Jamie, yet her shade is eternal.
My Only Wish is that Britney and the true GOAT of her team, Felicia Culotta (IYKYK), reunite.
📚 Here are some Hot Girl/Hot Girl-Not Girl Summer Reads:
Los Angeles Goes to War With Itself Homeless by Jaime Lowe
Who gets to be a critic? I never believed I could be one. That’s the problem. By Carlos Aguilar
Kelis on Finding Freedom Through Farming By Roxane Gay
‘Legally Blonde’ Oral History: From Raunchy Script to Feminist Classic by Ilana Kaplan
We have another bonus feature review coming Wednesday while still trying to watch all the shows and films. We recently crossed off Gossip Girl off the list; please catch us online and DM us your thoughts because we have plenty.