Tyler Perry’s next Netflix film will be Six Triple Eight, a story about the 6888th battalion, the only all-black, all-female battalion in the World War II effort.
The film will be directed, produced and written by Perry and is based on an article by Kevin M. Hymel published in WWII History Magazine by Sovereign Media.
The film’s synopsis reads:
Six Triple Eight tells the inspiring true story of the incredible and brave women of the only all-black, all-female World War 2 Battalion. These 855 women joined the war effort with little knowledge of what exactly they would be doing, but were quickly given the mission of a lifetime: sort through and fix the three-year backlog of undelivered mail. A herculean task, that most thought to be impossible, the women not only succeeded but did it in half the time they were given. Facing discrimination, unfamiliar land, and a war-torn country, they persevered and sorted over 17 million pieces of mail, reconnecting American soldiers with their families and loved ones back home. The motto that kept them going each day was one they created themselves: “No Mail, Low Morale.” The women of the 6888 weren’t just delivering mail, they were delivering hope.
The 6888th Postal Directory Battalion’s narrative has been kept out of history books and out of the public spotlight until today, nearly 75 years later. On March 14, 2022, President Joe Biden signed legislation granting women the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest accolade.
Six Triple Eight will be Tyler Perry’s fourth Netflix feature, following A Fall From Grace, A Madea Homecoming, which debuted in the top ten in 43 countries, and A Jazzman’s Blues, which debuted in the top ten in 55. He also appeared in Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, which is one of Netflix’s top ten most popular films.
Contrary to what Kid Cudi has said multiple times in the promotional media tour for his new multimedia project Entergalactic, the practice of using a long-form visual film as a delivery system for new music has been around for decades. Almost from the time music videos became a way to market new singles, artists have pushed the boundaries of the format, resulting in short films, anthologies, and musical films.
Michael Jackson put out Moonwalker in 1988, pairing several of the singles from his album Bad with short films, concert footage, and archival clips. In it, he turns into a freaking robot; this sequence was later used as the basis for an arcade beat-’em-up video game. In 2003, Daft Punk turned their album Discovery into an anime, the clunkily titled Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. This film introduced narrative to the form, soundtracking each sequence with a song from the album to unspool the tale of a group of musical blue aliens thwarting an evil music manager (high cinema, this was not).
More recently, Beyonce’s musical anthology Black Is King, which was released on Disney Plus in 2020 as a visual companion to her 2019 album The Lion King: The Gift, is itself a musical companion to the live-action remake of The Lion King. It hybridized both approaches above, using a string of colorful but disparate music videos to pull together a loose narrative mirroring that of the original film, with an outcast monarch returning to claim his throne. Even Guapdad 4000 put together a short film for his album 1176 titled Stoop Kid earlier this year, plugging the project’s more emotive singles into a semi-autobiographical day-in-the-life coming-of-age tale.
I say all of that to say that Kid Cudi’s Entergalactic is not “groundbreaking” in the sense that it’s never been done before. However, what sets it apart is its beautiful animation, which is used in service of an old-school rom-com that film industry professionals are quick to tell us has nearly gone extinct. Despite Cudi’s insistence on calling it a “special” (artists, amirite?), it holds up as a movie in its own right. While watching it on Netflix, I could see myself paying the now-exorbitant price of a movie ticket, leaning back in the coziest seat in a darkened theater, and downing a bucket of popcorn after Nicole Kidman regales me with the wonders of taking in a film at AMC (and I don’t even like popcorn).
And when I say old-school rom-com, I mean a straight-up New York City, When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail, 27 Dresses classic of the genre — with some twists. For one, it centers Black folks in a way that a lot of standard-issue rom-coms do not. The central couple — Kid Cudi’s Jabari and Jessica Williams’ Meadow — is Black, their world revolves around a diverse array of characters (played by Cudi’s friends like Ty Dolla Sign, Vanessa Hudgens, Jaden Smith, and Timothée Chalamet, who inexplicably resembles Logic here), and their eccentric, artistic occupations. The film also indulges in many of the most sacred tropes of the genre but isn’t afraid to play with them.
For instance, there isn’t just one meet-cute: There are several near misses before Jabari and Meadow finally cross paths and set off on their love story. Their dates are highlighted by selections from the album; when Jabari meets Meadow for the first time, “Angel” significantly plays in the background. A bike ride through the city is backtracked by “Willing To Trust” with Ty Dolla Sign. Cudi and Williams display easy chemistry, while the animation — which has been compared to Spider-Man: Enter The Spider-Verse, although I find it more in line with Netflix’s equally excellent animated series Arcane — is as detailed as it is stylized, effectively conveying characters’ emotions while dazzling with psychedelic imagery and vivid color.
As far as the album goes, it falls somewhere in the middle of Cudi’s output; it’s nowhere as bland as Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven or Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ but fails to reach the heights of his debut Man On The Moon: The End Of Day or his most recent release, Man On The Moon III: The Chosen. The songwriting is almost painfully earnest — but why is that such a bad thing? A fun effect of releasing the album alongside a visual companion is that each forces the listener/viewer to consider itself in the light of the other. Where a cynical critic — i.e. most of us — would sneer down our noses at the album’s sincerity, the film’s theme skews that perspective. Because our heroes cannot find love unless they are willing to strip off their armor and be as vulnerable as Cudi is in his music. That he limits himself to his usual themes could be seen as creative timidity or, as with the crowd-pleasing tropes of romantic comedy, it could be seen as giving the people what they want.
Not every element of the movie or the album works well in concert with all the others — subplots involving Jabari’s anxiety about selling out at work and a dating app turning out to be a scam go nowhere after a lot of buildups. These subplots appear to attempt to inject social commentary into the film’s narrative, but they’re mostly pretty superficial and not very insightful. But since when do we come to Kid Cudi for social commentary? It’s okay that everything isn’t perfect; that’s one of the messages that has permeated Cudi’s music since day one. Now, it saturates his filmography, which like his music, has shown what a genre is capable of if only one is willing to take a chance.
Entergalactic is out now via Wicked Awesome/Republic. The special is now streaming on Netflix.
The original cast from Beverly Hills Cop is returning to join Eddie Murphy in the upcoming Netflix sequel. Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, and Paul Reiser are all joining Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley.
According to Variety, Netflix picked up the rights in 2019 to release the next ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ movie, which is currently in production. The film will be the fourth installment in the action-comedy franchise with the third movie being released in 1994.
Plot details for the film are being kept under wraps, but it’ll most likely follow Murphy’s character “Axel Foley” as he returns to 90210 to break open a new case. Taylour Paige and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have reportedly been cast in the film as well.
Murphy is producing the movie with Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman for Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
Will you be turning in to watch Netflix’s reboot of Axel Foley? Continue the conversation on social media.
At the end of the month, Kid Cudi will be dropping both his long-waited Entergalactic animated series, as well as an eponymous album of the music that accompanies the show. The Netflix series features Cudi (billed by his legal name, Scott Mescudi), along with Jessica Williams, Timothée Chalemet, Vanessa Hudgens, Ty Dolla Sign, and Laura Harrier. Created by Cudi, the “Man On The Moon” rapper has called it, “The greatest piece of art Ive ever made,” and now the newly-released expanded trailer gives us a closer look at exactly why he believes this.
Cudi voices the main character, Jabari, a BMX-riding, city dwelling dreamer and romantic who meets a gal in the city (Meadow, voiced by Williams) and they navigate the wavelengths of newfound love together surrounded by colorful supporting characters. The series is directed by Blackish creator Kenya Barris and is coming to Netflix on September 30th — the same day that the album drops. Other artists involved in the project in some way, shape or form include 070 Shake, Jaden Smith, Teyana Taylor, and more.
Watch the new expanded trailer for Entergalactic above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
A few years back, Vince Staples teased something called The Vince Staples Show, which apparently turned out to be a pair of short films showcasing a pair of singles, “So What?” and “Sheet Music.” Fans thought there’d be a musical project attached — or perhaps even an actual show, considering Vince’s interest in pivoting to acting — but none materialized, although the episodes eventually appeared on a website along with a ton of other Staples video content.
However, a feature on Staples in Los Angeles Times earlier this year noted that The Vince Staples Show had since moved to Netflix, suggesting that the early shorts had been something of a proof-of-concept, and that the show was in the early stages of production. Vince was quoted saying, “We’re working on it. Hopefully, we can make something great, then put it out when the time is right.”
Well, it appears that the time is, indeed, right now, as Deadline reports that Netflix has officially announced the show, which will be a scripted comedy loosely based on Vince’s real life. It’ll be co-produced by Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, How to Make It in America and The After Party writer/director Ian Edelman, Maurice Williams (who has experience writing TV with rappers as a writer on Kid Cudi’s Entergalactic), Los Angeles director Calmatic, and Vince’s manager Corey Smith.
